Maurizio Cattelan - Contemporary Art Part I New York Monday, November 7, 2011 | Phillips

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  • Provenance

    Marian Goodman Gallery, New York

  • Exhibited

    San Antonio, ArtPace, International Artist-In-Residence, New Works 00.2, Maurizio Cattelan, June 8 – July 16, 2000 (another example exhibited)

  • Literature

    F. Bonami, N. Spector, B. Vanderlinden, M. Gioni, Maurizio Cattelan, New York, 2000, p.174 (another example illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    No artist exemplifies the high theater of the everyday and serious play of art in the Twenty-First Century more so than Maurizio Cattelan. His installations combine sculpture and performance elements to reflect upon the most relevant issues of our time. The present lot, Untitled, 2000, originally installed and exhibited in a private apartment at ArtPace in San Antonio, beckons viewers into a domestic environment. Warm light spills out from the entryway, as do sounds of what is most certainly an infinitesimal domestic dispute. Heightened voices and flaring tempers provide a portal into the private life concealed therein. On the one hand, Untitled, 2000, is akin to a child’s anthropomorphic fantasy, replete with talking mice, but despite its inherent levity, the viewer is simultaneously confronted with the unsettling experience of invading a private space. Cattelan explores the complex intersection between fantasy and reality, and public and personal realms.

    We can draw comparisons to earlier works by Cattelan, particularly the emotionally charged Bidibidobidiboo, 1996, in which a taxidermy-squirrel slumped over a miniature kitchen table appears to have committed suicide, and Mini-me, 1999, Cattelan’s tiny but true to life self-portraits. By tinkering with the scale of his projects and reducing them to minutiae, Cattelan highlights the fragility of life in a microcosm. While Cattelan is heralded for his role as trickster, his work signals a profound appreciation of the intricacies of the human condition, one where even the smallest of actors can take center stage.

PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION

1

Untitled

2000
polyester resin, brass fixtures, and mixed media with sound track and electric lights
door: 3 3/8 x 2 in (8.6 x 5.1 cm)
trash bin: 1 1/2 x 1 1/4 in (3.8 x 3.2 cm)

This work is from an edition of three.

Estimate
$300,000 - 400,000 

Sold for $362,500

Contemporary Art Part I

7 November 2011
New York