Maurizio Cattelan - Contemporary Art London Friday, October 13, 2006 | Phillips

Create your first list.

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

  • Provenance

    Galerie Emmanuel Perrotin, Paris

  • Catalogue Essay

    For this work, Maurizio Cattelan has documented the installation he created for the 1999 Venice Biennale. Cattelan arranged for a fakir, a holy man trained in actions of endurance, to be buried in a mound of earth—leaving only his hands exposed to the air. In the current lot, Cattelan memorializes this performance, capturing the eloquence of hands resting in enduring prayer.

    “It [Mother, 1999 installation at XLVIII Venice Biennale] is an image of hope, implying that ultimately we have the capacity to escape our destiny, our roots, our obsessions and nightmares. As individuals and as artists, we have the ability to bloom from the ground like plants, which grow, no matter what the circumstances, because it is their nature and their obligation to do so… Like the fakir, he [Cattelan] explores the possibility of survival underground and of finding the energy to re-emerge under an open sky.” (F. Bonami, N. Spector, B. Vanderlinden, and M. Gioni, Maurizio Cattelan, London, 2000, p. 87)

72

Mother

1999
Black and white photograph in black wooden frame.
39 3/8 x 44 3/4 in. (100 x 113.7 cm); with frame: 51 3/4 x 45 3/4 in. (131.4 x 116.2 cm).
Signed "Cattelan" on Galerie Emmaniel Perrotin label adhered to the reverse. This work is from an edition of ten plus two artist's proofs.

Estimate
£20,000 - 30,000 

Sold for £45,600

Contemporary Art

14 Oct 2006, 7pm
London