Maurizio Cattelan - Contemporary Art Day Sale New York Friday, May 11, 2012 | Phillips

Create your first list.

Select an existing list or create a new list to share and manage lots you follow.

  • Provenance

    Galleria Massimo de Carlo, Milan

  • Exhibited

    Dinard, France, Palais des Arts, Big Brother, the artist facing tyrants, June, 2011 (another example exhibited)
    New York, Guggenheim Museum of Art, Maurizio Cattelan: All, November 4, 2011 - January 22, 2012 (another example exhibited)

  • Literature

    G. Verzotti, Maurizio Cattelan, Milan, 1999, p. 26 (illustrated)
    F. Bonami, N. Spector and B. Vanderlinden, Maurizio Cattelan, London, 2000, p. 136 (illustrated)
    N. Spector, Maurizio Cattelan: All, New York, 2011, p. 83 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    "I’m not trying to overthrow an institution or question a structure of power. I’m neither that ambitious nor that naïve. I’m only trying to find a degree of freedom…I just think that you can create new margins for freedom in every context." - Maurizio Cattelan
    (F. Bonami, N. Spector, B. Vanderlinden and M. Gioni, Maurizio Cattelan, New York, 2003, p. 155).

    Maurizio Cattelan's ubiquitous reputation in the art world as a troublemaker was initially supported by his supposed lack of respect for authoritative figures. Early on, the artist admitted that his art focused on "the ironic-disobedient-childish aspects of [his] personality." (A. Bellini, "An Interview with Maurizio Cattelan," Sculpture 24, no. 7, September 2005). Cattelan's seemingly rebellious identity as an artist often lead to an exhibition of a reversal of the traditional and standard relationships between an artist and their representing gallery.
    The present lot, A Perfect Day, 1999, was a day-long installation in which Cattelan adhered his gallerist, Massimo de Carlo, to his gallery wall in Milan with a spider web-like bonding of electrical tape. Suspended and unable to move free, de Carlo found himself at the complete mercy of the artist. This installation cleverly portrays Cattelan's own personal viewpoint of feeling entrapped by the pressures of the gallery system, in which the gallery director holds much of the power in steering the artist’s career. The present lot captures this moment, which existed solely for one evening at Galleria Massimo de Carlo, and depicts the gallerist almost entirely covered by adhesive tape, resembling a metaphorical art world crucifixion.

144

A Perfect Day

1999
electrostatic print on aluminum
101 5/8 x 75 1/2 in. (258.1 x 191.8 cm)
This work is number three from an edition of ten. The work is accompanied by a certificate of authenticity signed by the artist.

Estimate
$250,000 - 350,000 

Contemporary Art Day Sale

Contemporary Art Day
11 May 2012
New York