Essay About Maurizio Cattelan

2034 Words5 Pages

Who is Maurizio Cattelan? Both everywhere, anywhere and nowhere, he is that kind of artist that everyone knows without knowing him, he’s that kind of artist that physically survives in the sphere of a very limited amount of people. 
Born in 1960 in Italy, he multiplied odds jobs to join both ends before becoming an artists, jobs that are including being a cook, a postman, a janitor, donating sperm or working in a mortuary. Looking at these past working experiences in multiple fields, it seems hard as a viewer not to make links with his works, from All in 2008 to the numerous sexual references in Toilet Paper.
His decision to become an artist, came from his desire to survive without working, working being essential to survive, making art turning out to be much more work than expected. « Hunting for freedom, I’ve found the real prison. But at least it’s a prison I’ve chosen for myself. » said the artist in 2004 pining down the duality of being an artist, tormented between the freedom and the imprisonment.

 More than being an artist, Maurizio Cattelan is both a very good actor and spokesman, carefully picking the rights words to fuel his enigmatic persona selling the image of a clumsy and awkward man. Described as hating journalists, rumors are saying that he often sends a friend to pretend to be him. Constantly keeping the mystery alive about him, he seems to be always hiding in the shadows of his fictional character, never fully revealing himself. His character cannot help but remind of a tragedy from Musset, lost or not in his character the artist said himself that he doesn’t know who he is. May it be fiction or reality, one is left wondering if such fame might have been encountered without the massive amount of advertising a...

... middle of paper ...

... a double spread. A regular print with irregular colors where every provocation is expected and anticipated, where the surprise the reader had when opening the first issues and the brand is slowly fading away. Where the repetition of theses codes gets tiring. It finally all seems flimsy and flat, but the reader still feels unusually drawn to it and wants to own it. Although the website of the magazine offers short videos made during the shoots that are proving themselves to be far more effective, the already stuffed reader of over-saturated images is asking for more. There is something odd in the decline of the print, giving to the surviving and thriving magazines a mystical aura. Ownership suddenly becomes mandatory, a need to buy a collection piece, a souvenir of a declining era, something that says « I was here, I have an issue too». Blaming it on self-respect.

Open Document