Hitler Dangles as Cattelan Gives Us the Middle Finger: Review
In “Maurizio Cattelan: All,” a retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in New York, the Italian prankster and provocateur is again flipping the bird --literally and figuratively -- on a colossal scale.
Cattelan, 51, chose not to have his 21-year survey of 128 works installed chronologically or even sensibly.
Instead, he has trussed them all up by straps and cables and dangled the mobile mess, like so much tangled laundry descending on crisscrossing lines, from the ceiling of the Guggenheim’s six-story-high rotunda.
Alexander Calder, the inventor of the hanging “mobile,” has been cited as precedent. Please don’t blame Calder.
In small measure and the best of circumstances, Cattelan’s work can surprise. Considered within the tradition of Duchamp’s urinal, Meret Oppenheim’s fur-covered teacup and Robert Gober’s Surrealist, disembodied human limbs, his work can be disarming.
Generally, his art is banal. In this show, we are confronted with the worst of circumstances.
Context matters. In 1997, Cattelan created elongated “stretch” shopping carts and scattered them throughout a museum. In 2002, he propped a pair of life-size wax figures dressed as New York police officers standing on their heads, with their feet leaning against the gallery wall. (All that was missing were coffee and donuts.)
In 2007, a la Gober, he mounted a taxidermied horse dangling high above the museum’s floor, as if its head, like that of an ostrich, were buried in the wall.
They’re all here -- rendered ineffective -- sacrificed to the big idea.
Crushed Pope
Also suspended in the Guggenheim’s jumble, along with “L.O.V.E.,” the marble sculpture of a hand with an erect middle finger, is an elongated foosball table, an olive tree in a massive cube of dirt, and a huge wall of black granite.
The installation is peppered with numerous life-size wax figures, such as an old woman peering out from a refrigerator, Hitler kneeling, and Pope John Paul II crushed by a meteor.
Among the menagerie is a taxidermied mule harnessed to an overloaded cart, a dog skeleton with a folded newspaper in its mouth riding an Oriental carpet, a 26-foot-tall cat skeleton, and a life-size baby elephant dressed in a Ku Klux Klan robe.
The single poignant moment of “All” is its denouement, where a taxidermied horse, as if pulling the entire installation -- reminiscent of the Grinch’s dog and sled -- hangs feebly above the Guggenheim’s floor.
“All” is an impressive feat of engineering. The unusual “hang” is more engaging than the artworks themselves.
Lots of Junk
If no one is injured by falling debris before Jan. 22, when “All” closes, the show will be a success; no thanks to Nancy Spector, the Guggenheim’s deputy director and chief curator who green-lighted this Conceptual sham.
The Guggenheim’s rotunda void has never been more crowded. Packed with dead weight, it also has never felt this empty. The effect of “All,” seen from Frank Lloyd Wright’s curving walkway and vacant, forlorn bays, is of a mammoth cylindrical web of junk or of the artist’s oeuvre going down the toilet.
Ultimately, “All” is disingenuous and insulting -- an art world insider’s joke gone awry. It fails as both a retrospective and a Conceptual gamble.
Cattelan and the Guggenheim are playing an academic game in which the artist, to prove his nihilistic conviction, negates the importance and honor of the museum retrospective.
With “All,” Cattelan and Spector have turned their middle fingers not just on the artist’s own work and the Guggenheim Museum, but on the public.
“Maurizio Cattelan: All” is at the Guggenheim Museum, New York, through Jan. 22, 2012. Information: http://www.guggenheim.org.
(Lance Esplund is the U.S. art critic for Muse, the arts and leisure section of Bloomberg News. The opinions expressed are his own.)
To contact the writer on the story: Lance Esplund in New York at lesplund@gmail.com.
To contact the editor responsible for this story: Manuela Hoelterhoff at mhoelterhoff@bloomberg.net.
"Him"
Paolo Pellion di Persano/Guggenheim via Bloomberg
"Him" (2001) by Maurizio Cattelan, made of polyester resin, wax, pigment, human hair and a suit.
"Him" (2001) by Maurizio Cattelan, made of polyester resin, wax, pigment, human hair and a suit. Photographer: Paolo Pellion di Persano/Guggenheim via Bloomberg
"L.O.V.E."
Zeno Zotti/Guggenheim Museum via Bloomberg
"L.O.V.E." (2010) by Maurizio Cattelan. The 36-foot-tall Carrara marble sculpture is among the 128 works hanging from the Guggenheim's rotunda ceiling in Cattelan's swan-song retrospective "All."
"L.O.V.E." (2010) by Maurizio Cattelan. The 36-foot-tall Carrara marble sculpture is among the 128 works hanging from the Guggenheim's rotunda ceiling in Cattelan's swan-song retrospective "All." Photographer: Zeno Zotti/Guggenheim Museum via Bloomberg
"Novecento"
Paolo Pellion di Persano/Guggenheim Museum via Bloomberg
"Novecento" (1997) by Maurizio Cattelan. Made of taxidermied horse, leather saddle, rope and pulley, "Novecento" dangles above the museum's floor at the bottom of Cattelan's installation "All."
"Novecento" (1997) by Maurizio Cattelan. Made of taxidermied horse, leather saddle, rope and pulley, "Novecento" dangles above the museum's floor at the bottom of Cattelan's installation "All." Photographer: Paolo Pellion di Persano/Guggenheim Museum via Bloomberg
Maurizio Cattelan
Pierpaolo Ferrari/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
Maurizio Cattelan. In addition to making art, Cattelan, 51, also collects works by fellow artists.
Maurizio Cattelan. In addition to making art, Cattelan, 51, also collects works by fellow artists. Photographer: Pierpaolo Ferrari/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
"Maurizio Cattelan: All"
David Heald/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
Installation view of "Maurizio Cattelan: All" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. 128 pieces of art, all but two of Cattelan's complete artistic output, are on display.
Installation view of "Maurizio Cattelan: All" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. 128 pieces of art, all but two of Cattelan's complete artistic output, are on display. Photographer: David Heald/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
"Maurizio Cattelan: All"
David Heald/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
Installation view of "Maurizio Cattelan: All" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibit is curated by Nancy Spector, deputy director and chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum.
Installation view of "Maurizio Cattelan: All" at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in New York. The exhibit is curated by Nancy Spector, deputy director and chief curator of the Guggenheim Museum. Photographer: David Heald/Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation via Bloomberg
"La Nona Ora"
Attilio Maranzano/Maurizio Cattelan via Bloomberg
"La Nona Ora" (1999) by Maurizio Cattelan, made of polyester resin, wax, pigment, human hair, fabric, clothing, accessories, stone, glass and carpet.
"La Nona Ora" (1999) by Maurizio Cattelan, made of polyester resin, wax, pigment, human hair, fabric, clothing, accessories, stone, glass and carpet. Photographer: Attilio Maranzano/Maurizio Cattelan via Bloomberg
Rate this Page
Bloomberg moderates all comments. Comments that are abusive or off-topic will not be posted to the site. Excessively long comments may be moderated as well. Bloomberg cannot facilitate requests to remove comments or explain individual moderation decisions.