The Shocking Price One Artist Is Asking For A McDonald's Pickle

The world of modern art can sometimes reside in its own bubble. Although there are many modern classics such as Salvador Dalí's "The Persistence of Memory," Roy Lichtenstein's "Drowning Girl," and Andy Warhol's "Campbell's Soup Cans," the world of modern art has also seen some unusual pieces that have been sold for millions of dollars, Timeout reports. Some of the most egregious examples include Gerhard Richter's "Blood Red Slots," consisting of red paint on a mirror, or Barnett Newman's "Onement Vi," a painting that shows two blue rectangles divided by a light blue vertical line. That painting sold for a whopping $43.8 million, per Luxury Launches. 

McDonald's is no stranger to the world of art. For example, Kanye West dropped some major McDonald's news – he teamed up with a famous Japanese designer Naoto Fukasawa to design a new box for McDonald's burgers, according to NME. In Greece, McDonald's had a campaign called "Meant to be Classic" in which McDonald's products were inserted into classic paintings made by impressionists Manet and Renoir (via The Drum). Now, one iconic McDonald's burger ingredient is the subject of a new modern art installation.

The Guardian reports that in Auckland, New Zealand, artist Matthew Griffin made a piece of art called "Pickle," and it's exhibited "on the ceiling of an Auckland art gallery." You might be wondering what type of dill-icious pickle it was — a dill pickle, sour pickle, gherkin, lime pickle, or maybe the Kool-Aid pickle (via Fruit Stand)? The Sydney-based artist flung "a single slice of pickle plucked from a McDonald's cheeseburger" on the ceiling, and people have already made up their minds about the art piece. Some called it "moronic," while others said that it's "brilliant" or "genius." 

Whether brilliant or moronic, the pickle on the ceiling can be yours for NZD$10,000 ($6,288), but you still have to pay an additional NZD$4.44 ($2.79) for the cheeseburger. What's best is that you don't get the pickle that's on the ceiling — whoever buys it will get a cheeseburger and "instructions on how to recreate the art in their own space" so they can flick it on their own ceiling. 

If you're wondering what's the point, Griffin's representative Ryan Moore said, "The gesture is so pure, so joyful," and that's what makes flicking pickles on the ceiling so great. We guess this is the case of different strokes for different folks, and if you'd like an expensive painting instead of a pickle, you can bid for Katherine Bernhardt's "McDonald's Restaurant" painting at Sotheby's.