Tag: Maurizio Cattelan

Maurizio Cattelan, born on September 21, 1960, is an influential Italian visual artist renowned for his hyperrealistic sculptures and installations. Beyond his satirical and humorous approach to art, Cattelan engages in curating and publishing. A self-taught artist, he has showcased his work internationally in museums and Biennials.

Notable for his gold toilet sculpture, “America,” the fallen Pope depicted in “La Nona Ora,” and the duct-taped banana piece, “Comedian,” Cattelan is often labeled as the art world’s joker or prankster. His unique perspective on originality, as described in discussions with ethnographer Sarah Thornton, emphasizes evolution and the capacity to add to existing creations.

Cattelan’s debut artwork, “Lessico Familiare” (1989), is a self-portrait featuring a Hand Heart over his chest. In 1992, he founded the Oblomov Foundation, offering a grant to an artist refraining from creating or exhibiting for a year. Notably, Cattelan used the funds for an extended holiday in New York when no applicants emerged.

During the mid-1990s, Cattelan explored taxidermy in works like “Novecento” (1997), featuring a racehorse named Tiramisu, and “Bidibidobidiboo” (1996), portraying a squirrel at a kitchen table with a handgun. Transitioning to life-size wax effigies in 1999, he crafted impactful pieces like “La Nona Ora,” illustrating Pope John Paul II crushed by a meteor. Maurizio Cattelan’s diverse and provocative oeuvre continues to captivate the art world.