Art.view: Against the odds | The Economist
Cattelan seems delighted to make specific works for individual collectors, but patrons beware. Ben Brown, a London dealer, commissioned a portrait of his grandmother; Cattelan made a unique work called “Betsy” consisting of a life-like old lady jammed into a fridge. Peter Brant, a Connecticut-based newsprint magnate, commissioned a portrait of his wife, Stephanie Seymour; Cattelan created a bust in the style of a mounted moose head, which the art-world has nicknamed “Trophy Wife”. (To make matters worse, Cattelan made the piece an edition of three with one artist’s proof, so other men could own Stephanie.) When François Pinault, a luxury goods billionaire, asked the artist to think about what he might make for him, Cattelan suggested a tombstone inscribed with the epitaph, “Pourquoi Moi?” Mr Pinault's family was initially too uncomfortable with the idea, but Cattelan persisted and the family recently acquiesced.
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