David v Goliath

My work David v Goliath (2026) draws on the historical dialogue between the monumental and the absurd, positioning itself between David (1501/1504) by Michelangelo and Comedian (2019) by Maurizio Cattelan. Through humour, scale, and juxtaposition, this work stages a playful yet pointed confrontation between artistic traditions and the systems that sustain them.

At the centre of the photograph is a fragment of a classical sculpture resembling Michelangelo’s David. Rather than presenting the heroic whole, the image isolates the figure’s groin and taped across this marble fragment is a yellow banana, echoing Cattelan’s infamous gesture in Comedian. Duct tape holds the fruit against the marble surface in a deliberately awkward encounter between permanence and decay, high culture and everyday object.

As in the title David v Goliath, this pairing becomes a visual metaphor for the biblical story of David and Goliath (1 Samuel 17). In Michelangelo’s sculpture, David represents the underdog who defeats an overwhelming opponent through intelligence and courage. Here, however, the roles blur. The monumental authority of Renaissance sculpture, with its legacy of mastery, permanence, and reverence, becomes the “Goliath.” The banana, fragile and temporary, assumes the role of David: small, humorous, and seemingly powerless, yet capable of disrupting established hierarchies.

Humour plays a crucial role in this reversal. The image is knowingly irreverent, confronting the sanctity of art history by taping a banana to the body of a classical sculpture, the work mirrors Cattelan’s conceptual provocation while simultaneously grounding it within the weight of historical tradition. The image is both homage and critique acknowledging the endurance of canonical artworks while questioning the seriousness and authority that often surrounds them.

The contrast between materials intensifies this tension. Marble’s durability and cultural prestige, while the banana will inevitably bruise and decay. My work allows me to freeze this unlikely encounter in a suspended moment and in doing so, David v Goliath reflects on how artistic value shifts across time, and how small, absurd gestures can challenge the authority of even the most monumental traditions.

Ultimately, this work reflects on how artistic value is constructed across centuries. By collapsing Michelangelo’s Renaissance ideal and Cattelan’s contemporary provocation into a single frame, the work asks whether today’s irreverent gestures might themselves become tomorrow’s monuments. In this sense, David v Goliath stages an ongoing battle between reverence and disruption, reminding viewers that art history is not a stable hierarchy but a constantly shifting contest of ideas.

ICE