Leeum Museum of Art Hosts Maurizio Cattelan's First Solo Exhibition in Korea
Largest Scale Since 2011 Guggenheim Show in the US
Exhibiting 38 Works Including Sculpture, Installation, Mural, and Photography
[Asia Economy Reporter Kim Heeyoon] Online reservations already closed, long queues of waiting visitors on site. The museum lobby, visited by over 1,000 people even on weekdays, was busier than ever.
The solo exhibition "WE" by Italian artist Maurizio Cattelan, currently held at the Leeum Museum of Art in Hannam-dong, Yongsan-gu, Seoul, is receiving as much public attention as the reputation of this controversial artist. The exhibition, running until July 16, is Cattelan's first solo exhibition in Korea and the largest since his 2011 retrospective at the Guggenheim Museum in the United States. Through a total of 38 works including sculpture, installation, murals, and photography, visitors can experience the artist's world of art all in one place.
Through the exhibition theme "WE," the artist poses questions such as "Who are we?", "How do we become us?", and "What is relationship?" Cattelan, who skillfully performs various roles such as an upside-down policeman, a kneeling criminal, and homeless people lying throughout the exhibition space, invites the audience to his own "human comedy" with a pessimistic, gloomy, and cynical perspective. On this stage, the artist evokes the audience's poignant empathy for the cruel realities of life. Themes that run through the artist's work?oppression, anxiety, authority, religion, love, self and family, life and death, and the concept of "we"?build a certain solidarity centered on audience emotions, going beyond diverse discussions about the works.
Comedian_2019_Live Banana, Duct Tape_Variable Size_Courtesy of Maurizio Cattelan_[Photo by Leeum Museum of Art]
This exhibition features notable works including early pieces that highlight the artist's unique humor and satire, as well as the controversial "Comedian (2019)," which sparked a global debate on the essence of art. This work, a single banana taped to a white wall with silver duct tape, was exhibited at Art Basel Miami in 2019 and sold for $120,000 (about 150 million KRW). The idea that a banana that would rot in a few days costs 150 million KRW led the artist to explain that what was sold was not the banana itself but a certificate embodying the concept of the work. The certificate includes instructions on how to attach the banana and states that the work is only recognized as Cattelan's if the owner of the certificate attaches the banana. Cattelan produced only three certificates for this work. When asked about the conditions specified in the certificate, exhibition staff said, "The duct tape is a trade secret, so we cannot disclose details," but hinted, "The banana used is a Del Monte banana, and rather than a green one, a banana that is one or two days old is used."
The artist's sharp humor about the contemporary art market quickly led to accusations of being a "fraud." In an interview released last year at the Gagosian Gallery, Cattelan argued, "A fraud is someone who wants to be someone else, but I have always been who I am," and "I built my identity based on my flaws." Regarding the controversial "Comedian," he explained, "A real comedian is neither an actor nor an ordinary person but someone living in limbo between fiction and reality," and "The work 'Comedian' exists between conceptual art and a joke; conceptual art has no emotion, and jokes usually do not convey profound ideas."
Untitled_2001_Platinum silicone, epoxy fiberglass, stainless steel, hair, clothes, shoes_variable size_Courtesy of Maurizio Cattelan [Photo by Leeum Museum of Art]
Having never received formal art education and never properly attending an exhibition until he was 28, Cattelan has challenged the art world's stereotypes by crossing institutional boundaries as a self-defined "intruder," having worked various jobs such as an embalmer, nursing assistant, and gardener rather than a typical artist. This tendency is reflected in "Untitled" (2001), the first work to break through the floor since the opening of the Leeum Museum of Art, where his face appears emerging from an unexpected place after breaking through the museum floor. "Us" (2010), featuring two Cattelans lying side by side as if dead on a bed, draws out the complex imagery of death that he has long explored in his work. "All" (2007), nine marble sculptures installed on a red carpeted exhibition space, evokes the image of corpses while recalling and commemorating the memory of last year's disaster, forming a shared empathy of "us."
Cattelan subtly borrows from art history and cleverly uses popular elements in his hyperrealistic sculptures and paintings that can be intuitively understood. In the process, he mocks himself but also reveals himself as a keen social critic who accurately penetrates human nature and strikes at the core of life. His works confront uncomfortable truths and overturn the audience's fundamental perceptions, but the artist's underlying attitude is rude and brazen. Cattelan describes his work as "wondering for whom we exist and attracting the attention of adults," and assures, "I still guarantee you that it is a struggle."
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