"All". Maurizio Cattelan at Guggenheim Museum, New York.

There are many, many ways to find a little bit of Italian spirit in New York City, starting from the famous Mulberry street, heart of Little Italy, to restaurants, tourists, immigration’s stories.

But those people who were there in November 2011, could also take advantage of a very peculiar event, to breathe a little bit of Italian culture. In those days, in Solomon Guggenheim Museum, the very first, big retrospective has been opened by the artist who most of all dominates the Italian artistic world, Maurizio Cattelan, that’s why between November 4^th 2011 and January 22^nd 2012 it was very easy to hear there a lot of Italian voices, visitors’s attracted by the event, curious people’s, journalists’s.

“All”, that’s the name of this spectacular exhibition that showed all Maurizio’s artworks. Even if he lives in New York City, he has been a critic witness and a sarcastic storyteller about Italian vicissitudes, and this big exhibition makes him a worldwide known artist.

Whoever got into the museum (just after a long, long queuing, let me say) was really surprised by the huge structure inside and its metaphoric style. Expositions in Guggenheim are usually composed of paintings and sculptures set in the long and curved corridor that runs from the ground floor to the ceiling, but this exhibition offered a very different point of view. 

From the top of the ceiling, Cattelan’s artworks were flying all over the space, hanging on white sheets, chains and wires. There were celebrities, puppets that look like the artist himself, puppets that look like children, stuffed animals, bizarre images, pictures of performances and copies. It seemed like the execution of the last 20, 30 years of Italian history, and that was probably the artist’s intention because of the big change in Italian politics at that time.

Disrespect and defiant attitude in his production wee the main theme of this weird structure, which was very chaotic in its appearance. The customers were turning around the structure, moving, and making their look go through that labyrinth of images and figures, as if it was a mysterious world to discover. The window at the top of the ceiling was the only source of light, and it gave sacrality to all the exhibition.

There was everyone. There was the Pope, there was Hitler, there was Pinocchio, there was Picasso.

In the structure was very important the sculpture L.O.V.E. (2010). It was a copy of the great sculpture hand shaped set in Milan, in Piazza Affari. The hand is playing a fascist greeting, but it had some cut finger. The result of this artwork is that the hand is showing the middle finger to the fascist building where the economy centre is set, and that’s very critic about Italian past and international business.

In this tornado of images there was also “La nona ora” (1999) that brought scandal and outrage in our catholic country. A big metheorit is just falling down on Pope John Paul 2nd. Cattelan doesn’t want to disrespect the church, and he says “It’s just a way to remember that power is something that cannot last forever, and it has a deadline, like the milk”. Actually it’s very easy to find something mystic in many of Cattelan’s artworks.

For example “Daddy, daddy”, wich is the only work in his production to stay non just temporary in Guggenheim collection. It’s made of Pinocchio’s figure, laying on the surface of a pool, like it’s the victim of a suicide or an accident, and it’s talking to Geppett o like Jesus did with God on the cross.

In the exposition there was also “Ave Mary” (2007), made of three arms that come out of a wall, playing a fascist greeting. It’s surprising that these arms are not dressed up like soldiers, but like business men. It seems that for Cattelan economy, finance and business are slaves of the same dictature.

"La Nona Ora" 1999.

"L.O.V.E." 2010.

 Between the others characters there was the suicide squirrel, protagonist of “Bibidibobidiboo” (1996) , a dark but simple representation of death without a happy ending. There was also a big group o pigeons, that came from the installation “Tourists – The others” set in Italian pavilion for the 54th Biennale in Venezia. The artist was so shocked by the conditions of the pavilion that decided to leave everything withount changes, and he just put a lot of stuffed pigeons and their droppings. 

The work “Love lasts forever” (1997) is also connected to the theme of death. It’s a cinical work inspired by the tale “The musicians from Brema”, where the cat, the chicken and the donkey are actually recreating the shape of a ugly monster, but they are just skeletons.

There’s also Hitler, in the artwork “HIM” (2001), a copy of the sculpture set in Warsaw ghetto. Hitler is on his knees, his eyes are full of tears and he looks like he’s praying. His outfit is the same of the children in the ‘20s. It’s a deep thought about forgiveness and regret. It’s like the artist is asking hiself “Is it a possible for this terrible dictator, for this monster, to receive forgiveness after a teary afterthought?”.

"HIM" 2001.

And also there’s “Novecento” (1997) wich is a big, stuffed horse with very lond and innatural paws, that looks straight to the ground. Its name is take by the famous Bernardo Bertolucci’s movie . The horse in hanged to the ceiling and it’s really, really sad to see, the perfect allegory of Italian mood. It talks without speaking about an Italy deeply struggled by scarfs and politic games. It’s not for fortuity that it’s the first artwork people can see while coming into the hall.

Beacouse of “All”, walking inside the long curved corridor of Guggenheim was like jumping into the White rabbit’s hole, trought psychoses, memories, news and strong critics to society. Cattelan’s production is now showed not like a game or a playful universe we have been used to, but as a deep thought about history and about ourselves. For this artist, this great retrospective is also his goodbye to his career.

We don’t know if true or not, if it will be forever or not. But Maurizio Cattelan’s work is a perfect mirror of our last 20 years of history. So, let’s think about it, and let’s take care about the future.