Art Safari: Maurizio Cattelan

Maurizio Cattelan rarely gives interviews and when he does, he openly admits to lying. In the film, critic and curator Massimiliano Gioni speaks in his stead, as well gallery owners and collectors of his art, who often become part of his sculpture cum performance work. The film shows a selection of his most provocative and ambiguous art, like The Ninth Hour of 1999, a wax sculpture of Pope John Paul II, sunk on the ground beneath the weight of a meteorite. The work of Cattelan –the most famous and highly rated Italian artist abroad- simulates and subverts the conditions of culture and society, in a constant game of boundary-breaking and gestures of subordination. A kind of modern harlequin, blending pure folly with fiery critique, the artist puts before us irresolvable questions and the enigmatic quality of art.