Gwangju, 1st Gwangju Biennale, Beyond the Borders, 20 September – 20 November 1995
Literature
Beyond the Borders, exh. cat., Gwangju Biennale, 1995; F. Bonami, Maurizio Cattelan, Autobiografia non autorizzata, Milan: Mondadori, 2011, pp. 83–84
Catalogue Essay
“I am not really sure satire is the key to my work. Comedians manipulate and make fun of reality, whereas I actually think that reality is more provocative than my art. You should walk on the street and see real beggars not my fake ones. You should witness a real skinhead rally. I just take it; I’m always borrowing pieces – crumbs really – of everyday reality. If you think my work is very provocative, it means that reality is extremely provocative, and we just don’t react to it. Maybe we no longer pay attention to the way we live in the world. We are increasingly … how do you say, ‘don’t feel any pain’… we are anaesthetized.”
(The artist, in conversation with Nancy Spector, in F. Bonami, N. Spector and B. Vanderlinden, eds., Maurizio Cattelan, London: Phaidon, 2003, p. 17)
1995 Ceramic and metal. 3 × 1.5 × 1.5 cm (1 1/8 × 5/8 × 5/8 in). This work is from an edition of 3 and is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.