Maurizio Cattelan facts for kids
Quick facts for kids
Maurizio Cattelan
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Self-portrait in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2009
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| Born | 21 September 1960 Padua, Italy
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Notable work
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Maurizio Cattelan (born September 21, 1960) is an Italian artist. He is famous for his very realistic sculptures and art installations. Cattelan also works as a curator, which means he helps organize art shows. He also publishes art books and magazines.
Many people call him the "joker" or "prankster" of the art world. This is because his art often uses humor and satire. Cattelan taught himself how to be an artist. His works have been shown in museums and big art events around the world.
In 2011, the Guggenheim Museum in New York City showed many of his works in a special exhibition. Some of his most famous pieces include:
- America: This is a working toilet made of solid gold.
- La Nona Ora: This sculpture shows Pope John Paul II after being hit by a meteorite.
- Comedian: This is a fresh banana taped to a wall. One of these sold for $6.2 million in 2024!
Contents
Early Life and Artistic Beginnings
Maurizio Cattelan was born in Padua, Italy, on September 21, 1960. His mother worked as a cleaning lady, and his father was a truck driver. He started his career in the early 1980s. Back then, he designed and made wooden furniture in Forlì, Italy.
Cattelan never went to art school. He says that reading art books and "making shows has been my school."
Maurizio Cattelan's Art Style
Humor and satire are very important in Cattelan's art. People often call him a "prankster" because of this. He uses jokes and funny ideas in his work. One art expert called him "one of the great artists" who is also a "smartass."
Cattelan believes that new ideas in art come from old ones. He said, "Originality doesn't exist by itself. It is an evolution of what is produced." His art often takes simple ideas and turns them upside down. For example, he might use animals instead of people in his sculptures.
His first known artwork was a photo from 1989. It was called Lessico Familiare (Family Syntax). In it, he made a hand heart shape over his chest.
In 1992, Cattelan started the Oblomov Foundation. It was named after a book about a lazy character. This foundation offered money to an artist who promised not to make any art for a year. No one applied, so Cattelan used the money for a long vacation in New York.
Using Taxidermy in Art
Cattelan is known for using taxidermy in his art in the mid-1990s. Taxidermy is the art of preparing, stuffing, and mounting animal skins.
- Novecento (1997) shows a taxidermied racehorse named Tiramisu. The horse hangs from the ceiling in a long, drooping way.
- Bidibidobidiboo (1996) is a small scene with a squirrel. The squirrel is slumped over a kitchen table with a handgun nearby.
In 1999, he began making life-size wax figures. One of his most famous is La Nona Ora (1999). It shows Pope John Paul II in his robes, crushed by a meteor.
Art Publications
From 2002, Cattelan worked on a funny art magazine called Charley. It featured articles about modern artists.
In 2009, he teamed up with photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari. They created photos for W magazine's Art Issue.
In 2010, they started their own magazine called Toiletpaper. It comes out twice a year and is full of pictures. The photos are often strange and dreamlike. They use bright colors and sometimes black and white. The magazine's images make you think about popular culture in a new way.
Famous Artworks by Maurizio Cattelan
- Working Is a Bad Job (1993): At an art show in Venice, he rented his space to an ad company. They put up a billboard for a new perfume.
- Turisti (1997): This piece had taxidermied pigeons and fake pigeon droppings. It was shown at the Venice Biennale.
- Mother (1999): For this project, an Indian fakir was buried under sand in a small room. Only his hands could be seen.
- Untitled (2001): This artwork shows Cattelan peeking from a hole in the floor. He is looking at old Dutch paintings in a museum.
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- Him (2001): This sculpture looks like a schoolboy praying. But the head is a very realistic Adolf Hitler.
- In 2001, he put a giant HOLLYWOOD sign over a large trash dump in Palermo, Italy.
- La rivoluzione siamo noi (We Are The Revolution) (2000): This work shows a tiny Maurizio Cattelan. He hangs from a clothing rack.
- Daddy, Daddy (2008): A life-size Pinocchio doll lies face-down in a museum fountain. It looks like he jumped or fell from above.
- L.O.V.E. (2011): This is a 36-foot (11-meter) white marble sculpture. It shows a hand with only its middle finger sticking straight up. It points away from the stock exchange building in Milan.
- America (2016): An 18-karat solid gold toilet. It was stolen from an exhibition in England in 2019.
- Comedian (2019): A banana taped to a wall. It was shown at Art Basel Miami. Another artist, David Datuna, famously ate the banana as part of his own performance art.
- Blind (2021): This artwork remembers the victims of the September 11 attacks. It shows a black statue shaped like one of the World Trade Center towers. A jetliner's shape cuts through it.
Art Exhibitions
Major Shows
A big exhibition called All showed 130 of Cattelan's works from 1989 onwards. It opened in 2011 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. After this show, Cattelan said he was going to retire from art.
In 2016, the Monnaie de Paris museum had a show of his work called Not Afraid of Love.
Biennials and Art Events
Cattelan has shown his art at many important events. These include the Venice Biennale (in 1993, 1997, 1999, 2001, 2003, 2011). He also participated in Manifesta 2 (1998) in Luxembourg and the 2004 Whitney Biennial in New York.
Awards and Recognition
Cattelan was a finalist for the Guggenheim's Hugo Boss Prize in 2000. He also received an honorary degree in Sociology from the University of Trento, Italy. In 2004, he won the Arnold Bode prize in Germany.
He also received a special career prize (a gold medal) from the 15th Rome Quadriennale. In 2009, an Italian singer named Elio came to accept the prize. He joked that he was the real Cattelan!
Films and TV About Cattelan
A documentary film called Maurizio Cattelan: Be Right Back came out in 2017. It showed at the Tribeca Film Festival. The film followed Cattelan's big art show at the Guggenheim Museum.
In 2011, Cattelan was featured on the American TV show 60 Minutes. In 2016, a documentary about his life and work, The Art World's Prankster: Maurizio Cattelan, aired on the BBC.
Images for kids
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Self-portrait in the Museum Boijmans Van Beuningen, Rotterdam, 2009
See also
In Spanish: Maurizio Cattelan para niños
