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Maurizio Cattelan resurrects his stolen gold toilet in a new limited edition print.
America (2016) was an 18-carat gold toilet installed in the restrooms of the Guggenheim Museum — fully functional, and open to the public. In 2019, it was stolen from Blenheim Palace in a five-minute heist involving sledgehammers and crowbars. Neither the work nor the gold has ever been recovered. Therapy revisits that object with characteristic Cattelan wit, applying hand-laid 22-carat gold leaf to bring the missing masterpiece back – at least in part.
This silkscreen print with hand-applied 22ct gold leaf is produced on Somerset Tub Sized White 310gsm paper with perforation and deckled edges, and is a fundraiser edition in support of Renaissance Society in Chicago.
While Comedian (2019) – an ordinary banana duct-taped to a wall – has captured mainstream attention for years, it’s not the first time it seemed like Maurizio was playing a joke on the world. For example, L.O.V.E (2010), an 11m marble hand with four digits missing – leaving only a middle finger outside the Italian Stock Exchange in Milan. Is it a response to the fascist history of the square, or the 2008 financial crisis? Is it a postmodern comment on the emptiness of gestures, or just a really good joke? Any single answer would be unsatisfactory. To Maurizio, “if something can be reduced to one clear concept, it is as sure as hell artistically dead.” Only one thing unifies this sprawling, sardonic oeuvre – the figure of Maurizio the Artist. Or is that just another Mini-Me (1999)?
