Maurizio Cattelan - 20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale New York Sunday, November 8, 2015 | Phillips

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 8 November 2015 7pm

  • Provenance

    Marian Goodman Gallery, New York
    Private Collection, New York
    Christie's, London, Post-War and Contemporary Art Evening Auction, June 30, 2010, lot 7
    Gagosian Gallery, New York (acquired at the above sale)
    Private Collection, New York
    Christie's, New York, Post-War and Contemporary Evening Sale, November 12, 2013, lot 51
    Acquired at the above sale by the present owner

  • Exhibited

    New York, Marian Goodman Gallery, Maurizio Cattelan, April - June, 2002
    Museé d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris, Maurizio Cattelan, October 2 - 31, 2004
    New York, The FLAG Art Foundation, Attention to Detail, January 5 - August 1, 2008 (another example exhibited)
    Scottsdale Museum of Contemporary Art, Seriously Funny, February 14 - May 24, 2009
    New York, The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, Maurizio Cattelan: All, November, 2011 - January, 2012 (another example exhibited)

  • Literature

    C. Vogel, "Don't Get Angry. He's Kidding. Seriously", New York Times, May 13, 2002, p. E3 (illustrated)
    F. Bonami, N. Spector, B. Vanderlinden and M. Gioni, Maurizio Cattelan, New York, 2003, p. 157 (illustrated)
    M. Fokidis, "2-0-0-2: Deste Foundation Athens", Flash Art International, May/June 2003, pp. 138-141 (illustrated)
    Monument to Now: The Dakis Joannou Collection, exh. cat., Athens, DESTE Foundation, 2004, p. 54 (illustrated)
    P. Ardenne and C. Penwarden, "Monument to Now: Fondation Deste", Art-Press, 2004, p. 70 (illustrated)
    A. Bellini, "Magnetism and Drama: A Conversation with Maurizio Cattelan", Sculpture, September 2005, pp. 56-57 (illustrated)
    J. Massier, "Seriously Funny", Art Papers, July/August 2009, p. 47 (illustrated)
    C. Bors, "Collector Dakis Joannou", Modern Painters, February 2010, p. 21 (illustrated)
    Maurizio Cattelan: All, exh. cat., The Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 2011, pp. 100, 142, 230, 249, no. 88, fig. 32 (illustrated)

  • Catalogue Essay

    In the present lot, Frank and Jamie, 2002, the mischievous and sardonic artist Maurizio Cattelan has inverted an image of power by leaning two life-sized mannequins of New York Police officers upside down against a white wall. Even in this precarious position, the officers cast a watchful eye toward their approaching visitors. Frank’s arms are crossed, signaling defensiveness and authority. Jamie’s arms hang by his side, as if ready to grab his baton. Proud to be wearing a policeman’s uniform, the two figures grin naively and menacingly; however, further examination of their uniforms reveals that they originate from the now abolished department of New York City Housing Authority. The two figures in blue have been demoted to average security guards. Both physically and hierarchically, these men and the “security” they are meant to maintain has been diminished. The dignity and authority of their uniforms, badges, and weapons has been rendered unreal and nonsensical.

    Cattelan’s "Frank and Jamie is a monument to a comprehensive failure, one that involves a far-reaching breakdown of the social order. Morphologically, the side-by-side figures comprising the sculpture - which, because upside down, are semi-abstracted from reality - recall the twin towers of the World Trade Center. The allusion is ever so slight, but it is sufficient to invoke the tragic events of September 11, 2001.” (N. Spector, Maurizio Cattelan: All, exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2011, p. 101) Cattelan describes Frank and Jamie as “iconic cops, like in the movies. It's the right moment because it's the wrong moment. I didn't want to make a comment about New York City's police or Sept. 11th or Amadou Diallo…..In my mind it's the third part of a trilogy about power.'' This trilogy of power began with the infamous La Nona Ora (The Ninth Hour) in which an incredibly realistic, wax effigy of Pope John Paul II lays helpless on the rouge red carpet of the Vatican. Clutching his pastoral staff he lays crushed beneath a meteorite that has crashed in from above through the window, shards of glass lay in a cluster in front of him. The second work in the trilogy is a sculpture of small boy, dressed in a grey, heathery suit, his small legs tightly folded together on his knees as if in prayer. The face of this body however is one of an adult Hitler, his hands together in front of him he seems to be begging for our forgiveness. Hidden within this child’s body, the face of evil is one that can never be disguised. What the trilogy of sculptures “suggests is the impossibility of the police (and the government, for that matter) to truly protect innocent citizens from cataclysmic events.” Frank and Jamie “like his hyper-realistic renderings of the pope and Hitler, is a paradox. It resembles a freeze-frame from a slapstick routine, but it is really an open-ended invitation from the artist to contemplate a morally complex situation." (N. Spector, Maurizio Cattelan: All, exh. cat., Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, 2011, p. 101).

Ο◆26

Maurizio Cattelan

Frank and Jamie

2002
polyester resin, wax, pigment, human hair, clothing, shoes and accessories
Frank: 74½ x 24¾ x 20½ in. (189.2 x 62.9 x 52.1 cm)
Jamie: 71 x 24½ x 17¾ in (180.3 x 62.2 x 45.1 cm)
This work is from an edition of 3 plus 1 artist's proof.

Estimate
$1,000,000 - 1,500,000 

Sold for $1,205,000

Contact Specialist
Kate Bryan
Head of Evening Sale
New York
+ 1 212 940 1267

20th Century & Contemporary Art Evening Sale

New York Auction 8 November 2015 7pm