was born in padua in 1960.
cattelan did not attend art school but taught himself.
he worked as a cook, gardener, nurse and mortuary
attendant, before turning to making art with the hope that the
art world might offer him ‘better treatment’.
he began his creative adventures by making furniture
for his apartment - ‘functional furniture with art meaning’.
his designs were nothing special, he says, but they sparked
a lot of interest among italian magazine editors and
manufacturers. cattelan felt that designing was not right
for him, and an early show in bologna proved to be a
turning point.
today he is one of the best-known italian artist to have
emerged internationally in the 1990s, and his reputation
continues to grow.

maurizio cattelan’s art often combines sculpture and
performance. cattelan has a subtle sense of the paradoxes
of transgression, the limits of tolerance.
since the early 1990s, his work has provoked and challenged
the limits of contemporary value systems through its use
of irony and humor.
he teases the art world without ever falling into the naive
trap of thinking he can subvert a system of which he is part.
the characters and personas inhabiting maurizio cattelan’s
world are ghostly appearances in a personal theatre of
the absurd: policemen flipped upside down, stuffed animals
hanging from the ceiling, a swami who buried himself in sand
for hours at a time ...
suspended between reality and fiction, maurizio cattelan’s
work simulates and subverts the rules of culture and society
in a continuous game of detournement, acts of insubordination
and symbolical theft.
constantly exploring different materials, contexts and
strategies, he refuses to take any moral or ideological position,
concentrating instead on reproducing reality in all its
complexities. while he does not offer solutions, he shows that
one can survive and use the system without being consumed
by it.

he has had solo exhibitions in the most important museums
worldwide such as the MOMA, new york and the museum of
contemporary art, los angeles.
other recent presentation include ludwig museum in cologne,
germany and at the museum of contemporary art in chicago.
he has had the most numerous participations at the venice
biennale. during his five-time presence at the biennale he
imposed his work as a crucial point of reference in today’s art.
maurizio cattelan works are part of some of the most important
public and private collections worldwide such as:
guggenheim museum, new york; the dakis joannou collection,
athens; fondation pinault, paris; jumex collection, mexico city;
rubell family collection, miami; elaine dannheisser collection,
new york; gilles fuchs collection, paris; seattle museum of
contemporary art, seattle; migros museum, zurich; F.R.A.C.,
languedoc roussillon; fonds national d’art contemporain,
puteaux; F.R.A.C., nord-pas de calais; the israel museum,
jerusalem; castello di rivoli, turin; fondazione sandretto re
rebaudengo, turin.

maurizio cattelan lives and works in italy and in the USA.


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we interviewed maurizio cattelan on april 13, 2004.
(same questions as ... see the list of interviewed people)
--------------------------------------------------------------------


what is the best moment of the day?
I LOVE THE SMELL OF NAPALM IN THE MORNING

what kind of music do you listen to at the moment?
WAGNER, MOSTLY.

do you listen to the radio?
YES, A LOT, BUT I LOOK FOR COMMERCIALS.

what books do you have on your bedside table?
THE BLIND LEADING THE NAKED.

do you read design magazines?
I LOOK AT THE PICTURES.

where do you get news from? newspapers?
ANYWHERE, THEY ARE MOSTLY LIES ANYWAY.

do you notice how women are dressing?
OH YEZ.

do you have any preferences?
NO, ANYTHING GOES.

what kind of clothes do you avoid wearing?
MINI SKIRTS.

do you have any pets?
DO BACTERIA COUNT?

when you were a child, did you want to become an artist?
NO, I WANTED TO BECOME A DESIGNER, BUT I WASNT SMART ENOUGH.

where do you work on your artistic concepts?
ON THE PHONE.

who or which organization would you like to develop
something for?
I TEND NOT TO WORK WITH A SPECIFIC PERSON IN MIND.
ART IS A MATTER OF STATISTICS: IT'S NOT ABOUT INDIVIDUALS,
IT'S ABOUT PEOPLE.

do you discuss your work with other artists?
I TRY TO DISCUSS IT WITH EVERYONE: EVERY PIECE IS A TEST,
AND IT NEEDS TO BE CONFRONTED, CRITICIZED, DESTROYED
AND REBUILT. I TEND TO AVOID MY OWN OPINIONS,
AND JUST TRUST THE OTHERS.

describe your style, like a good friend of yours would describe it.
LAZY.

can you describe an evolution in your work from your first projects
to the present day?
I TRY TO MOVE SIDEWAYS: SO THERE ARE NO EVOLUTIONS,
ONLY DIGRESSIONS.

what project has given you the most satisfaction?
PROBABLY THE ONES I COULDNT REALIZE:
THEY ARE STUCK IN MY MIND, AND THERE IS NOTHING I CAN
DO TO GET RID OF THEM.

is there any artist from the past, you appreciate a lot?
WARHOL UEBER ALLES.

is there any designer and/or architect from the past,
you appreciate a lot?
BORROMINI.

any advice for the young ?
GET OLD SOON.

what are you afraid of regarding the future
EVERYTHING.


---

see the controversies
about the installation in milano
by maurizio cattelan


---
editor’s note:
many thanks to the kind folks at the trussardi foundation, milan.


---
the book:

http://www.phaidon.com