"Unhappy Meal" by Carol May: a perfect example of Junk Art

What is art? An ancient painting by Caravaggio or Piero Manzoni's poop in tin? Does art imitate life or is the opposite true?

These are all questions that have never been asked by the cleaners of the Marco Polo Hongkong Hotel.

A few weeks ago, in fact, some of them threw into the trash a Carol May work of art in the shape of Happy Meal: a replica of the box containing the classic combo for children of McDonald's, but with a frowned mouth instead of smiling.

The work of the Swiss artist, exhibited during one of Art Basel's satellite fairs, evidently had a too real aspect to his inspirational object and, like it, ended up together with the waste.

When May heard the news, he commented:

"At first I was absolutely shocked. I did not think at all that what happened was fun, but at the same time I laughed too: it means that my imitation was a success!".

The woman should be compensated by the hotel with a sum of 350 francs.

If you think that this kind of thing happens only abroad, you have a short memory because in Italy in 2015 an installation by Sara Goldschmied and Eleonora Chiari that recreated the consequences of a party was cleaned up by a cleaning team of the museum. The year before, again in Italy, a cleaner in a gallery threw an installation by Paul Branca made of crumbs and newspaper and cardboard scraps.