The British artist Banksy is a faceless graffiti artist. He is famous for his unique destructive satire, which often expresses political and social messages powerfully. Furthermore, he creates art in unpredictable places such as streets, walls, and bridges all around the world.

 In 2002, the original "Girl with Balloon" work was first opened to the public on the wall of a printing shop in Shoreditch, London. The same type of graffiti was painted all over London, but now most of them were gone. Later, on October 6, 2018, the work was sold at the London Sotheby's auction, and at the same time, a similar work was destroyed by Banksy himself. Citing Pablo Picasso's remarks that "the urge to destroy is also a creative urge," Banksy released a scene of the work in a shredder through his SNS after the auction had finished. People at that time were shocked, and through this performance, the work was reborn under the name of "Love is in the Bin." And three years later, it was sold for 16,000,000 pounds, about 25.6 billion won.

 Some say this act is "a satire on the existing art market." The rationale is that an artist who left work in an abandoned alley without anyone knowing it felt skeptical that his artwork was converted into money by being ripped off the wall and sold. However, some people also call it "smart marketing." This is because he caused a tremendous rebellion regardless of his intention. This is because the monetary value of the work has exploded as symbolism of the new performance art that has emerged.

                       

 Maurizio Cattelan is an Italian sculptor and performance artist who satirizes established systems, including religion, politics, society, and the art world, with wit and paradoxical black humor. He has been a famous artist since the late 1980s, driving force behind issues in the art world. His work is characterized by avant-garde work across genres with a unique sense of humor.

 One of his artworks is a sticker of a banana on a wall. In December 2019, it appeared in Art Basel Miami and was sold for 120,000 dollars and about 140 million won in Korean currency. At the same time as it was being auctioned, an artist named David Datuna ate a banana. After that, there was a work by Maurizio Cattelan. He replaced it with a fresh banana but eventually gave up his work due to large crowds. Although bananas rot away, the concept of attaching bananas to the wall itself has created hundreds of millions in value. Maurizio Cattelan posed a question to the art world with one banana. The question is whether the modern art market itself, in which works such as puns that anyone can imitate and are priced and traded at astronomical value, is a comedy. What does his work look like?                                                       

LEEUM Museum << Maurizio Cattelan: WE >>

Let's briefly look into his representative works!

 The appearance of the two men in suits brings up the image of a funeral, and if you look closely, they both look very much like Cattelan's face. In modern art, the artist's identity is a mirror of the work and has a kind of artistic meaning. These two characters, who may be twins or doppelgangers, represent the divisive existence and thoughts of the author who travels back and forth between individuals and society, order and disorder. In addition, a pair of pale faces allow us to look into internal conflicts and contradictions within us. 

 There is a person who pops out from the floor and sticks his head out. This character also looks a lot like Cattelan. The unrealistic production is not the heroic artist expected by the established art world, but somehow the appearance of an outsider dressed in inappropriate clothes reveals Cattelan's position.

 The police serve the safety of citizens and have public power, but as shown in this work, they cannot do anything like abandoned mannequins. This work was first shown after the September 11 attacks, and the two upside-down policemen look like twin buildings that have collapsed.

 Furthermore, you can read about the nation's failure to protect the people from terrorism. The work brings humorous and vivid faces to topics that can sometimes seem abstract, such as national disasters and public power.

 Maurizio Cattelan's works are currently on display at Leeum Museum until July 16th this year. It is Maurizio Cattelan's first exhibition in Korea, and a total of 38 works of various mediums, including the newly introduced "Comedian" can be seen. As it can be said to be the hottest exhibition at the moment, Pharos recommends you to visit and see it.      

78th Reporter • KIM DA ON • daonda0904@naver.com

78th Reporter • LEE HYEON SEO • papiberry@kyonggi.ac.kr