Is Maurizio Cattelan THE FUTURE?

Posted by Kiki Anderson Feb 17, 2009

In my recent review of Lives of the Artists by Calvin Tomkins, I mention that the approaches of many of the artists featured feel dated. Maurizio Cattelan, on the other hand, seems current. He's on this month's cover of Modern Painters, holding a mannequin arm at his groin, like a gigantic penis. His expression is gleeful, almost drunken. The gesture of the arm: a salute. This is Cattelan. He's like the jester; his jokes have a bite to them. Social and political commentary, as well as the natural discomfort we all have with the body but try to pretend we don't, combine in awkward ways that resonate. Cattelan is not an artist who is concerned with individual expression. He is about spiky analysis with a purpose. And that feels like a good future for art right now.