Like a Virgin By MASSIMILIANO GIONI
M
aurizio Cattelan likes to mix affection with a dose of
Seymour, a legendary supermodel whose image has graced over three
confrontation, particularly when it comes to dealing with those
hundred magazine covers. Designed to be mounted on the wall, the piece
in positions of power. Most notoriously, Cattelan has directed
turned the effigy of Stephanie Seymour into a literal trophy wife. Cattelan
this tough love in the direction of his gallerists. In 1994, he convinced
found inspiration for his portrait during a visit to Brant’s palatial residence
his legendarily promiscuous dealer Emmanuel Perrotin to sport an
in Connecticut, where he apparently remarked that among Brant’s many
unwieldy, pink costume, resembling a hybrid of a rabbit and a phallus, for
impressive trophies, which include world-class holdings of Warhol,
the duration of Cattelan’s show (Errotin le Vrai Lapin, 1994). In 1999, he
Basquiat, Koons, and Lichtenstein, as well as numerous mounted heads
staged a secular crucifixion by duct taping his Milanese dealer Massimo
of large and exotic game, his most remarkable was certainly Seymour
De Carlo to a gallery wall, in a performance that eventually ended with De
herself. As a result, Cattelan’s portrait resembles nothing so much as
Carlo having to be rushed to the hospital (A Perfect Day, 1999). However,
a prize commemorating a particularly rarified catch from a high-stakes
Cattelan has also directed below-the-belt jabs toward his high profile
social safari: like the neck of a gazelle, Seymour’s voluptuous form arches
collectors, particularly those who commission works from him. In 2002, for
gracefully out of the wall, hands demurely cupped to her breasts, hair
instance, when Cattelan was commissioned to create a piece for London
perfectly coiffed on the occasion of the Phillips de Pury auction by world-
dealer Ben Brown, he produced a life-sized, hyperrealistic waxwork
renowned stylist Frédéric Fekkai (fig 1). With a becalmed, regal look on her
likeness of his recently deceased grandmother which was installed in
face, she is the very picture of beauty, frozen in the headlights.
Brown’s refrigerator (Betsy, 2002). Recently, in response to a commission request from collector François Pinault, Cattelan proposed a tombstone
Stephanie certainly has mischievous overtones that suggest Cattelan may
bearing the epitaph “Pourquoi moi?”
have been having fun at his commissioner’s expense, but the work also resonates in ways that pushes it beyond the bounds of a simple prank.
Cattelan’s work Stephanie, 2003, a portrait commissioned by newsprint
Most readily apparent is Stephanie’s resemblance to a ship’s figurehead,
magnate and magazine publisher Peter Brant of his wife Stephanie
the often elaborate, carved-wood figures that adorned the prows of ships
Seymour, is a similarly double-edged work. For the commission, Cattelan
between the 16th and 19th centuries (fig 2). In more recent history, these
employed the talents of his frequent collaborator, Daniel Druet, a highly
figures, which largely took the shape of either women or animals, were
regarded Parisian waxwork sculptor, who spent two years working
used to either relay the name of the ship, or to display the wealth of the
with Cattelan on the project. The result was a lifelike, nude waxwork of
ship’s owner — a similar function to that of an art collection or, for that
Fig 1 Frédéric Fekkai styling Stephanie’s hair
Stephanie Seymour with Stephanie Image by Jessica Craig-Martin/ Trunk Archive for W Magazine
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