Bruno Grizzo

Inspired by the work of Colombian artist Carlos Motta, this work is part of a series of trophies created by Bruno Grizzo as ironic tributes to US interventions in Latin American governments. Focusing on the CIA-orchestrated coup d’état against Jacobo Arbenz in Guatemala, this mixed media sculpture combines 3D printed bananas set on a ceramic base shaped as a stepped pyramid, reminiscent of the Temple of Kukulcan, with red, white, and blue stripes. On the steps are handwritten references to the 1954 Guatemalan overthrow that was dubbed by the CIA as Operation Peanut Butter Success (PB Success). The trophy is placed on a wooden pedestal covered with a quilt made of T-shirts. The shape of the quilt comes from a carved seal from the Nicoya region—on the southern border of Mesoamerica—in the form of a quadrangular Amerindian cross, and the T-shirts are vintage Banana Republic T-shirts with a star framed by two bananas (a comical reference to the communist hammer and sickle symbol). Finally, the print on the quilt imitates the steps of a pyramid and alludes to the American culture of “climbing the corporate ladder”.