Cattelan's Hanging Self-Portrait at Milan Art Week Draws Criticism as Stale Shock

In 2022, during Milan Art Week, Maurizio Cattelan unveiled a life-sized silicone self-portrait, titled "You" (2021), which features the artist in a blue suit clutching flowers, suspended by a noose in the historic green marble bathroom of Galleria Massimo De Carlo, designed by Piero Portaluppi. Critic Alessandra Mammì, in her Artribune review, criticizes the work as unoriginal and irrelevant, suggesting that Cattelan's reliance on shock value has persisted since his 1990s pieces, including the hanged children and praying Hitler. She contrasts this with Marina Abramović's "Balkan Baroque," which earned the Golden Lion for its profound engagement with the Balkan wars. Mammì deems Cattelan's dark humor ineffective in a post-2020 context, labeling the installation as "totally useless" and merely a commodity for art week. The piece, composed of various materials including platinum silicone and real hair, measures 140 × 40 × 25 cm. Nicolas Ballario describes it as "a gentle surrender of those who cannot bear to touch the ground barefoot," a sentiment Mammì finds exaggerated. The article also mentions Cattelan's previous works, such as a golden toilet and a taped banana, along with his 2021 retirement announcement.