About the Italian photographic artist, Maurizio CATTELAN (*1960 in Padua)
"Maurizio CATTELAN creates lifelike figures, staging bizarre, comical and provocative situations. His sensational installations include works such as 'La Nona Ora - The Ninth Hour' (1999), a figure of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite. In 2001 he designed 'Him' (Praying Hitler), a childlike, small and innocent figure of Adolf Hitler kneeling piously. This was auctioned in 2016 for the record price of $17.2 million. Together with Massimiliano Gioni and Ali Subotnick, he curated the fourth Berlin Biennale for contemporary art in 2006, entitled Of Mice and Men. The sculpture 'L.O.V.E.' also caused a sensation. (libertà, odio, vendetta, eternità - freedom, hatred, revenge, eternity), made of Carrara marble and erected in front of the Milan Stock Exchange in 2010, whose hand, stretched out in a Roman salute, had all its fingers cut off except for the splayed middle finger, in order to caricature fascism. Also making headlines was his installation 'America,' a fully functional deep-flush toilet shell made of 18-karat gold, which the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum had installed in an existing toilet room in 2016 and which was stolen from Blenheim Palace during an exhibition in 2019. He caused another stir with a wall-mounted banana at the Art Basel art fair in Miami, which was eaten by action artist David Datuna. The artist Joe Monford sued Maurizio CATTELAN because he sees in it a copy of his work 'Banana & Orange'. Cattelan has commissioned several of his works from French sculptor Daniel Druet. Since 2013, he has published the photographic magazine 'Toiletpaper' with the Greek Cypriot art foundation DESTE." (free translated text, © Wikipedia, accessed 10/11/2022)
Awards
- 2000: Hugo Boss Prize, Nomination
2004: Arnold Bode Prize of the documenta city of Kassel
2009: Awarded the Special Jury Prize of the XV Quadrennial Rome 2008 for his life's work
Exhibitions
- 1993: Venice Biennale
1994: Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris; P.S.1, New York
1997: Venice Biennale, Italian Pavilion (together with Enzo Cucchi and Ettore Spalletti); Wiener Secession, Vienna
1998: Museum of Modern Art, New York; Kunsthalle Basel
1999: Venice Biennale - Arsenale 1999; Kunsthalle Basel; Galleria Massimo De Carlo, Milan 1999; Melbourne International Biennial 2000: Marian Goodman Gallery, New York; Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich; Parkett Publishers, New York; Expo 2000, Hannover
2001: Kunsthalle Vienna; Dye Factories, Stockholm; Yokohama Triennial
2003: Museum Ludwig, Cologne
2007: Museum of Modern Art, Frankfurt
2008: Kunsthaus Bregenz; Synagogue as well as Old Church, Stommeln, GER
2011/2012: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York[9]
2013: Fondation Beyeler, Riehen/Basel
2019: Temple of Theseus, Vienna; Victory Is Not an Option, Blenheim Palace, UK
Public Collections
- Migros Museum of Contemporary Art
Saatchi Gallery, London