A renowned artist has put the literal gold in green gold, creating the world’s most expensive avocado toast ‘dish’ in art form.
Love or hate them, the avocado community has a huge place in global society, as does avocado on toast. For context, the avocado market is expected to grow, reaching a total market size of US$17.905 billion by 2025 as per Inspiring Farms.
Locally, South Africa is pinned as one of the top two key players in Africa, according to Mordor Intelligence.
Now, avocado on toast too has a special place in culture, namely millennial culture. It was this factor particularly that led German contemporary artist Tim Bengel to create the world’s most expensive avocado toast, set to debut at the Berlin Art week. His work is worth an estimated at $3 million, and constructed entirely of gold as per HypeBeast.
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The sculpture is titled ‘Who Wants to Live Forever’, an ode to millennial culture.
What does avocado toast have to do with millennial culture?
A few years back, Tim Gurner made international headlines by saying that “millennials could not own property due to their overindulgence in avocado toast” as the New Yorker famously cited in a piece titled A Grand Unified Theory of Avocado Toast. Essentially the jab was at millennials attitude of living a wealthy lifestyle before they had earned it.
The statement was so popular that SoFi or social finance, promised a month of complimentary avo toast to customers who bought a home.
My assessment of the work is that it speaks to the millennial appeal of living the dream before actually earning the dream, writes Cape {town} Etc’s Ashleigh Nefdt. The message being constructed in actual gold may be obnoxious to some, and entirely fitting to others. Why would it be fitting? Well, ‘wasting’ gold on avocado toast is the entire message, no?
Bengel used a real avocado toast meal as the template. It underwent 3D scanning and was then imbued with 27 individual gold parts, separated between two bagel halves, tomato slices, ten arugula leaves, five onion rings and the jewel of the piece, five avocado strips.
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According to Bengel, it’s a symbolic piece that also represents other facets of interest to the millennial, like wealth, fitness and status.
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In terms of pure gold usage, the value is in the eye of the beholder. If we can use real gold to make jewellery, why not make it art that adorns the message of a generation?
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Picture: Instagram: posted by @timbengel