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June and Basel are a good combination for the art scene: not only that the city hosts Art Basel, but at the same time at the Foundation Beyeler there was the opening of a powerful show by one of the most controversial artists of our days: Maurizio Cattelan. Famous for his sculptures that he started making back in the 90s, the artist creates a feeling of unease and most of his characters are trapped or are found in dream-like situation. The show presents a single piece, the one below:
Although after the Guggenheim show in 2011 he claimed that he will stop making art, apparently the artist continues. Taxidermy is very present in his works and is a meditation on death. The artist uses this in a way that the audience does not concentrate on mortality, but rather sees the way in which a body can look like a living element. The original work presented only one horse, which reminded of solitude, while the five create a feeling of panic and of despair, as if they are all drawn together in the same direction:
The artist’s irony is well-known. He also mocks himself, like in an old work of his, a sculpture representing himself entering a museum, but how did he do it? For an artist as controversial and young as he is, this seemed the only way to be present in an institution as important as a museum.
As an artist, he does not take himself seriously, and he claims that “Nobody can frame me because I never pretended I was telling the truth”. One of his intelligent jokes is the one where he wears Joseph Beuys’s grey suit, like in the picture below. He is an artist that thinks about the artist’s condition and the way he is seen in the art world: is the artist a savior? Is the artist telling the truth? Or it’s just a hoax?
He also uses strong figures in his works, which could be another reason why his works are so mainstream. There is a concept behind it, questioning the way these characters used to be seen before the moment you see them reinterpreted by Cattelan or put in different contexts. After centuries of portraying popes in a specific way, Cattelan makes a switch to where science meets religion.
He is also interested in putting animals in human contexts, which underlines the weirdness of the act. Here, an elephant wears a sheet that reminds of Ku Klux Klan. Also, he might be disguising, but his dimensions make it impossible to get unnoticed.
A famous work is Bidibidobidiboo, draws attention to the suicide: why would a squirrel do that? We should translate our human fears and needs into an animal world to get the least understanding of the work.
Here is a clip of Kaputt exhibition at Beyeler Foundation:
by Andreea Chindris