A figurine of a person in a gold robe lying on the ground, holding a long staff with a cross.

Maurizio Cattelan

La Nona Ora

€2,200
Limited edition of 666

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Maurizio Cattelan brings his most sacrilegious work to a new limited edition, hand-painted sculpture. 

La Nona Ora is based on Maurizio's original 1999 installation piece that depicts Pope John Paul II struck down by a meteorite and pinned to a bright red carpet. The title references the ninth hour of Christ's crucifixion, when he cries out "My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?" before dying on the cross.

The satirical work, which casts the most powerful figure in Catholicism as mortal and vulnerable, divided the art world and beyond. Most notably, forcing a museum director in Catholic Poland to resign.

Each resin edition arrives individually hand-painted and with a metal cross.

Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan6 collaborationsMaurizio Cattelan has been called many names, but do not call him an imposter – “an impostor is someone who wants to be someone else… I am who I’ve always been.” Maurizio, the troublemaker, grew up in an industrial town in northern Italy, faking his parents’ signatures on school report cards. Maurizio, the outsider,  received no formal art training but has been hailed ‘the most famous Italian artist since Caravaggio.’ Maurizio, the heretic who dropped a meteorite on the pope (La Nona Ora, 1999), holds no institution sacred – not even the art world. A century after Duchamp’s Fountain (1917), Maurizio inverted the idea of readymade art with America (2016) – a fully-functional solid gold toilet in the restrooms at Guggenheim Museum.

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)?

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Reviews from Avant collectors

  • Incredibly happy and impressed with the quality of what we received. Will definitely consider buying from Avante Arte again.

  • Thanks for a fantastic service. First time user.

  • Great packaging and superb frame! nice piece

  • First class service, from start to finsh. Thank you!

  • everything in the communication has been pretty clear and fluid, the tracking before delivery was detailled and fast, the packaging was enought secured and the final artwork is incredible !

  • Beautiful piece! Love it so much

  • We are incredibly impressed with the quality of our print and the level of professionalism of Avant Arte.

  • 💯💯💯 👌🏻


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