Maurizio Cattelan

This comprehensive monograph documents the work of Maurizio Cattelan, theest-known Italian artist to have emerged internationally in the 1990s. Hisork has featured in three editions of the Venice Biennale (1993; 1997; 1999)nd in major venues worldwide, including The Museum of Modern Art, New York1998); and the Tate Gallery, London (1999).;Cattelan creates sculptures thatock the art system and even the artist himself, with considerable wit andudacity. Poking fun at art history (with, for example, a giant,isneyland-type figure of Pablo Picasso greeting visitors at New York'suseum of Modern Art), monumentality (with a tomb-like, marble epitaphisting all the football matches lost by the England team, exhibited in arominent London gallery), his native Italy (in a major exhibitionelebrating new Italian art, Cattelan created a rug forming a map of hisountry -inevitably trampled and soiled beneath museum visitors' feet), andften makes fun of himself and his own inability to be responsible, "serious"rtist. Part jester, part accuser of the contemporary art world, part thief,