Maurizio Cattelan is one of those artists whose work is hard to ignore — whether or not you take it seriously. (Cattelan himself goes back and forth on that.)
Born in Padua, Italy in 1960, the New York-based contemporary conceptual artist is known for his hyperrealism and irreverent, Marcel Duchamp-like approach. Cattelan often remarks that he is not an artist, but someone who fell into making art — including Comedian, a banana duct-taped to the wall at Art Basel Miami Beach that sold for $120,000 in December 2019 after becoming a viral sensation. Now, Cattelan’s most famous (or infamous) work is set to hit the Sotheby’s New York auction block on November 20.
The fruits of Cattelan’s labor
While Cattelan’s work has always triggered strong reactions, Comedian radically raised his international profile both in the contemporary art world and in the social media-driven mainstream. Plastered across digital platforms, newspapers and, memorably, on the cover of The New York Post, Comedian attracted record crowds to the point that the Miami exhibit had to be shut down early.
The work is expected to fetch between $1 million and 1.5 million at auction, though organizers haven’t specified which of the three original versions and two artist proofs will be up for sale. (One version is currently held at The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York.)
Cattelan said in a 2021 interview with The Art Newspaper, “To me, Comedian was not a joke; it was a sincere commentary and a reflection on what we value. At art fairs, speed and business reign, so I saw it like this: if I had to be at a fair, I could sell a banana like others sell their paintings. I could play within the system, but with my rules.”
In a Sotheby’s statement about the upcoming auction, Head of Contemporary Art for the Americas David Galperin said, “If at its core, Comedian questions the very notion of the value of art, then putting the work at auction this November will be the ultimate realization of its essential conceptual idea — the public will finally have a say in deciding its true value.”
Comedian is currently on a world tour through major cities including London, Tokyo, Hong Kong and Dubai before returning to New York on November 8. (That is, if no one snatches it off the wall and eats it — as has happened twice in the past, according to Smithsonian magazine.)
Cattelan’s universe beyond Comedian
Comedian may have caused the biggest stir, but it’s far from Cattelan’s only work (and certainly wasn’t his first to spark controversy). Here are some highlights from the prolific provocateur’s catalog.
La nona ora
Cattelan gained art-world notoriety with this depiction of Pope John Paul II pinned to the ground after being struck by a meteorite. The original version displayed at the Kunsthalle Basel in 1999 was a wax figure made of polyester resin and presented on a red carpet surrounded by shards of glass. The title is said to harken back to the moment when Christ cries out, “Why have you forsaken me?” before dying on the cross. Though taken by many as a criticism of the Catholic Church, Cattelan has always said the work is for the viewer to interpret rather than for him to explain.
Turisti
During the 47th Venice Biennale of Contemporary Art in 1997, Cattelan installed 200 stuffed pigeons on top of the air conditioning pipes in the Italian pavilion. Fake excrement was added to the floor, ruffling more than a few attendees’ feathers.
Novecento
Shown in 1997 at the Castello di Rivoli Contemporary Art Museum in Rivoli, part of the Turin metropolitan area, Novecento featured a taxidermied horse suspended from the venue’s ornate baroque ceiling by a rope. Taking its name from the Italian word for the 20th century (and the title of a Bernardo Bertolucci film on the rise of fascism), it’s thought to be a commentary on “a country exhausted by a century of upheaval and violence,” according to Perrotin Gallery.
America
This fully functioning toilet cast in 18-karat solid gold dates from 2016. The gilded ‘throne’ was installed in an actual bathroom at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York, offering the public an unprecedented chance to get up close and really personal with the work of art. It was reportedly offered to former US president Donald Trump after his request to borrow Van Gogh’s Landscape with Snow from the museum was denied.
In 2019, while on loan to the Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire, England, America was stolen and never recovered.
Where to catch Maurizio Cattelan in Italy
In Piazza degli Affari, Milan
Created for a retrospective at The Royal Palace of Milan (2010), Cattelan’s sculpture Il dito (also known as L.O.V.E.) was later placed on Milan’s Piazza degli Affari in front of the Italian stock exchange, where it still stands today. The giant Carrara marble hand is carved in the Roman Classical tradition and sits on a high pedestal, giving a pointed salute before the finance world.
On Via Balzaretti, Milan
The Città Studi neighborhood of Milan is home to what’s become informally known as “Toiletpaper Street,” after the text-free magazine Cattelan founded with photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari in 2010, which has its colorful headquarters in what’s known as “Lipstick House” on Via Balzaretti. The whole street, with the buildings’ fanciful facades, has become an open-air art installation, though the headquarters are generally not open to the public, save for rare special openings. But there may be more occasions for those in the future since the launch of events venue and exhibition space Toiletpaper Apartment during Milan Design Week earlier this year.
At the Venice Biennale 2024
The 60th edition of the Venice Biennale continues through November 24, and while it’s not Cattelan’s first appearance at the art fair, it may be his most subdued. The artist painted the large-scale black-and-white feet on the façade of the chapel of the women’s prison on the Giudecca island, which is hosting the pavilion of the Holy See, the governing body of the Catholic Church and the state of Vatican City. With My Eyes is a group exhibition exploring themes of human dignity and commissioned by Cardinal Jose Tolentino de Mendonca.
