Cattelan, Cattelan

“Cattelan, Cattelan” is an iconoclastic installation/tribute to Maurizio Cattelan (the “art world prankster”, as defined by the Americans) inspired by one of his most famous work: “Daddy, daddy“ (2008) which depicts a Pinocchio puppet drowned in a pool at the Guggenheim Museum in New York.

My installation — which is intended as a medication (φαρμακός) with its proper box, instructions for use and dosage — is composed by a 28 cm-high wooden Pinocchio puppet from ’76 hanged with a hemp rope at deliberate height over a small staircase.

As Cattelan has been of great influence for me (and by interpreting his own will to “resign” from art), yet I wanted to perform a “parricide” (“Daddy, daddy” refers to Christ’s “Father, father why did you abandon me?”).

Quite amazingly, his installation “YOU” (2022) depicting him being hanged, presented at Massimo de Carlo’s gallery, seems like a telepathic connection/response to me.

Moreover, it seems like (we) Italians are obsessed with death, guilt and atonement: “L’Impiccato” (The hanged man) is a self-representation by Gino de Domincis exhibited at La Nuova Pesa in 1996.

In this case the hanged man was real and had a paint brush instead of the genitals. Besides, the event did not last long because the man in charge of being hanged was unable to play his role except for a few seconds and, after having taken him down, they never repeated the attempt.