Published February 25, 2008 by aanews | (Be the first to comment)
Published February 9, 2008 by aanews | (Be the first to comment)
Cattelan
Concept and editing: Maurizio Cattelan
Essay: Bice Curiger
English translation: Catherine Schelbert
Published February 2008
Format: 325 x 430 mm. 12,7 x 16,9 inches.
Forty-three loose pages in a printed cardboard box.
First edition of 1000 copies.
his publication conceived by Maurizio Cattelan is both a book and an artwork. Like Duchamp’s “Boîte-en-valise,” it is a survey of Cattelan’s work. The artist designed the loose pages to fit in a carboard box; the hand-illustrated text and images emphasize the character of an artist’s book. Bice Curiger, chief editor of “Parkett” and curator at Kunsthaus Zurich, has contributed a well-informed essay.
To order this book or check the press’s other projects please visit www.threestarbooks.com
Published February 4, 2008 by aanews | (Be the first to comment)
From the Press Release
February 2 to March 24, 2008
he Pope felled by a meteorite as if by the hand of God (“La Nona Ora,” 1999), a miniature model of the artist in a Beuysian felt suit, hanging helplessly from a clothes rack (“La Rivoluzione Siamo Noi,” 2000), or the artist breaking into the temple of art through the museum floor (Untitled, 2001) – Maurizio Cattelan, in a mixture of Don Camillo, Pinocchio and court jester, always carries his pictorial statements to extremes so that the realistic depiction of well-practiced social and art world conventions tips over into the absurd and ridiculous. Rather theatrical and ephemeral in his actions, objects, and installations, but deploying ironic sophistication and unexpected turns, the artist spares no taboo in unmasking deceitfulness. Born in 1960 in the North Italian university town of Padua, he started his career in the eighties creating anti-functional design objects before deciding to work in the art world, which, in his own words, he found “much more appealing.” Since then, Cattelan has become an internationally renowned artist, even though he would not describe himself as one. However, without contradictions, provocations, and simultaneously existing differing truths, his work would not be what it is. This strategy, together with a visual power which imprints itself onto our memory, has led to the appearance of his actions and sculptures in the most important international art institutions and to participation in numerous significant group exhibitions and biennials. Since 1993 when Maurizio Cattelan settled in New York, he has alternatingly lived and worked both there and in Milan. Not owning a studio, he works in situ, as exhibitions offer him exactly the challenge needed to “find” new works, which are subsequently fabricated by others rather than being made by the artist himself. In this sense, he really is one of Duchamp’s greatgrandchildren.
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