He is famed for creating a golden loo that was stolen and a $6m banana that was eaten. But, says the sculptor ahead of a major new show in Germany, there\u2019s more to his work than pranks and provocation<\/p>\n
Maurizio Cattelan, the art world\u2019s merriest prankster, pauses when asked which object in his sprawling new Berlin show is most likely to be defaced, stolen or eaten, then emits a foghorn of a laugh. \u201cThere is no need to vandalise anything,\u201d says the trim, soulful Italian, explaining that he has already taken care of all that, given how the work cuts villains, imposters and straw men down to size. \u201cBut,\u201d he says, referring to the show\u2019s more daring works, \u201cmaybe we need someone to resuscitate people.\u201d<\/p>\n
Cattelan, who speaks in a lilting English, grins broadly, a mischievous glint in his brown eyes. Speaking on the subterranean level of Mies van der Rohe\u2019s weightless Neue Nationalgalerie<\/a> (NNG) in Berlin, he darts between the impish and the profound in conversation, mirroring the dizzying range of his work. The silver-haired sculptor is best known for duct-taping a banana to a wall in 2019 and calling it Comedian, in a droll commentary on the excesses of the art market. The joke became even funnier when it sold for $6.2m, then hilarious when its buyer took a bite out of his purchase and swallowed it<\/a>.<\/p>\n
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