Maurizio Cattelan Turns 60: A Career of Provocation and Irony

Maurizio Cattelan, born in Padua in 1960, celebrates his 60th birthday. The Italian artist, known for his provocative and ironic works, has built a career on ambiguity, double meanings, and conceptual-pop strategies. His most famous pieces include "L.O.V.E." (a giant hand with a middle finger in Piazza Affari, Milan), "America" (a solid gold toilet stolen from Blenheim Palace in 2019), and "Comedian" (a banana taped to a wall, sold for $120,000 at Art Basel Miami Beach 2019, now in the Guggenheim collection). Other notable works: "Stadium" (1991, a foosball table with Senegalese workers), "Lavorare è un brutto mestiere" (1993 Venice Biennale, rented his space to a perfume company), "Turisti" (1997 Venice Biennale, 200 stuffed pigeons), "Charlie don't surf" (1997, a child mannequin with pencils through hands, at Castello di Rivoli), "Novecento" (1997, a stuffed horse hanging from the ceiling, also at Castello di Rivoli), "A Perfect Day" (1999, gallerist Massimo De Carlo taped to a wall), "La Sesta Biennale dei Caraibi" (1999, a fake biennial), "La Nona Ora" (1999, Pope John Paul II struck by a meteorite, sold for $886,000 at Christie's), "Him" (Adolf Hitler kneeling, sold for $17.189 million at Christie's), "Hollywood" (2001, a sign above a landfill in Palermo), and "Tre bambini impiccati" (2004, three hanged child effigies in Milan). Cattelan's work often critiques immigration, racism, fascism, wealth, and the art world itself.