Maurizio Cattelan | Moscow Mule, 2021

The limited-edition print Moscow Mule (2021) was conceived by Maurizio Cattelan for his solo exhibition “Breath Ghosts Blind” at Pirelli HangarBicocca. In line with the themes arising from the show—a symbolic representation of the cycle of life—Moscow Mule transfigures the moment of birth and of the origin of life through simple elements: a fetus, whose face bears the artist’s iconic profile, a mother’s womb, and the outline of a t-shirt suggesting the hypothetical
presence of a body. Similar to a snapshot or a sectioned image, the drawing was made in pencil on the letter paper of a well-known Moscow hotel by the critic and curator Francesco Bonami, who has followed Cattelan’s artistic career right from the outset. By devolving the creation of the work and combining various levels of representation, along with the irreverent choice of title, Cattelan brings into question our certainties and implies questions on issues such as originality and the depiction of life.