A photograph of a potato might be the 15th most expensive picture ever.

The photo of a relatively circular, slightly dusty potato with the subtlest of root matter left on it sold for $1.08 million in a private sale.

Titled Potato #345 by Irish visual artist Kevin Abosch, the spud was chosen as the subject for specific reasons. "I see commonalities between humans and potatoes that speak to our relationship as individuals within a collective species," says Abosch.

Damn right. Have you ever seen a bunch of shoestring fries boiling in a vat of oil at McDonald's? If you blink, you might swear you saw middle America sweating it out on the boardwalk in Atlantic City. Potatoes are us!

Abosch isn't done waxing deep thoughts though. "Generally, the life of a harvested potato is violent and taken for granted. I use the potato as a proxy for the ontological study of the human experience," he says.

He's speaking to my soul. The next time I look in a mirror and see myself as dusty and round, it's not because I'm overweight and didn't bathe--it's because I'm just a proxy for a potato.




Photo: Kevin Abosch