Top 45 Maurizio Cattelan Quotes

My aim is to be as open and as incomprehensible as possible. There has to be a perfect balance between open and shut.

I like to produce work for specific places, and it is difficult to do repeat shows in the same space.

I have become an employee of art.

I would never make fun of anyone who is obviously disabled who cannot defend himself, like Donald Trump.

Laughter is a Trojan horse to enter into direct contact with the unconscious, strike the imagination, and trigger visceral reactions.

Sometimes I see myself as a locked box – very detached from myself and others. But I feel lucky, because I am the owner of my time, and you cannot buy time.

Damien Hirst knows how to drive super-fast cars… I love my bicycle.

Stuffed animals are sad and scary; they have humorous and tragic qualities.

Contemporary art will never achieve the audience of football, pop music, or television, so I think we should stop comparing its possible area of influence to that of big mass-media events.

Art should be able to be innovative without compromising itself. That’s why I believe artists should have bigger preoccupations than checking the price tags on their work or becoming curators’ darlings.

Work was always necessary to survive. Then I decided the goal should be to survive without working. But now I have much more work than I had before. Hunting for freedom, I’ve found the real prison. but at least it’s a prison I’ve chosen for myself.

I was jealous of colleagues when I should have been happy for them. I decided to save my energy. If you think they are great works, you should buy them.

The best art is on the street.

Art fairs are a lot like professional proms – you make contacts, have a lot to look at, and in some cases, you make friends forever. I think that for artists, they can be a bit controversial: they stimulate curiosity, but at the same time, you’re always trying to not have your work hung on a wall.

You don’t wanna see your work, because you might find out that you do not like it.

From my point of view, humour and irony include tragedy; they’re two sides of the same coin.

Based on my experience, it’s considerably difficult to force a donkey into doing something it perceives to be dangerous for whatever reason.

I am not an artist.

I find Instagram interesting to the extent that new royal families are born and die there, such as The Kardashians of L.A.

It’s not my job to tell people what a work means.

Sooner or later, all magazines end up in the toilet.

Provocations are like a Molotov cocktail. They only work one time out of ten, but when it works, it can also be dangerous for the arm that is throwing it. It’s the price that has to be paid.

Every morning, we choose between milk or tea or coffee. Usually, I know what I like, but I don’t rule out changing my idea sometimes. The editing process is one of the most important parts in everyday life. The same is with my work: mistakes are part of the decision-making process.

I think that laughter and death are closely related: comedy is the quintessential human reaction to the fear of death. It’s probably linked with the fact that we are the only animals who know we must die.

When you place art in the shops, it’s a way to make it more accessible.

I work more with my stomach than my brain.

Made in Catteland is a project that aims to overcome the boundaries of the work of art as we’re used to thinking of it: exploring new possibilities of reaching the audience through the creation of new forms of art.

I am fascinated by the idea of employing beautiful images as a device to convey something extremely disturbing in an apparently harmless way.

It’s even more of a torture not to work than to work.

Money is a bad friend. Don’t ever do anything for money.

There are times when being scandalous or provocative can help bring focus to issues of major concern.

Art is about forgetting all these feelings, good and bad, and trying to understand what acts will last longer, which symbols will remain in history. It’s a question of perspective: The further you get from the past, the more concrete and plausible it seems.

When I was very young, I had to start to working to help my family, while my friends were studying. Since then, I have felt the urgency to escape from every dependency situation.

I don’t like the idea of having a public image. In the end, you have an image of someone, which becomes true whether it is or not.

Some do design in order to try to solve others’ problems, while others make art in order to give others his problems.

I produce so little that the works have to be editioned. Otherwise, I don’t survive. Also, editioning is relevant for communication. If you make three new works, it means that nine objects are available. Three people talking about your work is fine, but nine makes a difference.

I never talk about my work as a joke.

If you are searching to figure out what is true and what is not, you will have a sad life. It means you have too much time, and you should do a hobby – like collecting art.

Warhol was proof that you can be revolutionary without being militant.

What’s the point of our life? Everything seems absurd until we die, and then it makes sense.

I won’t say I’m not fascinated by the way advertising works. I like the sleekness. But a picture in advertising doesn’t last too long. They have to work for 30 seconds. And I’d like to reach at least two minutes. This is my goal: to break that two-minute record.

I never tried to make money – just enough to be able to eat.

I’m terrorized by a fear of failure. Failure is always there.

I would describe myself as a tallish, shy, middle-aged man who equally loves his work and his freedom. And a good liar!

I get up in the morning and get to bed at night, and between, I bring equivalent dedication to everything I do, with a horror of the inaccurate and the half-baked.