The art world’s most mischievous japester, Maurizio Cattelan, showed his more human side in a recent interview in The Guardian newspaper on the eve of a major new show at the Neue Nationalgalerie in Berlin.
The Italian artist—known for taping a banana to the wall (Comedian, 2019)—stressed that he is not just a provocateur, explaining: “My work has always been serious. The problem is people often stop at the joke.” Cattelan also addressed what happens next, pointing out in an arch philosophical way: “I don’t have a foundation. I don’t have a studio, never had. I also don’t have a family. A legacy would be like being so conscious about yourself that you have these constructions.”
And what about his links to Berlin? The Guardian revealed that during his early years in the city, Maurizio was a postman, a mortuary attendant and a sperm donor—death and life all rolled into one.