Maurizio Cattelan
Amen
16 November 2012–24 February 2013
Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle
ul. Jazdów 2
00-467 Warsaw, Poland
Hours: Tue–Sun 12–7pm; Fri 12–9pm
Thursday free admission
T + 48 22 628 12 71-3
For now we see through a glass darkly; but then
face to face: now I know in part; but then shall I
know even as I am also known. [1 Corinthians, 13:12]
After one year of silence and retirement from the art-world, Maurizio Cattelan and his works are once again arousing questions regarding life and death in a museum exhibition; the first exhibition after his well-known and successful Guggenheim retrospective. On display at the Centre for Contemporary Art Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw is a selection of the artist’s most significant works. In them, he poses questions as to the contemporary understanding of death, sacrifice, forgiveness, the genesis of evil in humankind, national identity, and historical memory.
Cattelan’s last works are a highly personal and dramatic inquiry into the meaning of suffering and anguish, which we drive from our consciousness, but which are an integral part of life from birth right up until death. Agonized figures are a kind of memento, which move the viewer and, in doing so, triggers an awareness of the loss of sensitivity to the human suffering ever present in the media. The realism of the sculptures calls to mind the veristic iconography of the Middle Ages and Caravaggio’s paintings; the dirty feet of both the tormented woman and the hung child command us to remember that just a moment ago, they were treading the earth, walking amongst us.
In a Warsaw ravaged by the cataclysmic 20th century, Maurizio Cattelan’s works take on a particular dimension; they become an artistic commentary on the Catholic credo… what, in fact, does love thy enemy mean? What does forgive those who trespass against us mean? Evoking the traumas of history, they deal with memory and forgetfulness, good and evil. As it is common in the artist’s practice, the exhibition expands beyond the gallery and lives in the public space, this time one of the major pieces will be displayed on 14 Próżna Street.
Curator: Justyna Wesołowska
Information:
CCA Press Office, T/F +48 22 625 05 22 / biuroprasowe [at] csw.art.pl
*Image above:
Maurizio Cattelan, Untitled, 2007. Resin, clothing, human hair, packing tissue, wood, screws and wooden anchors. 235 cm x 137 cm x 47 cm. Photo: Zeno Zotti. Courtesy Maurizio Cattelan’s Archive.
