Italian conceptual artist Maurizio Cattelan unveiled his first UK solo show in 20 years inside the Baroque halls of Blenheim Palace last week, including his famous 18-carat-gold toilet – which was promptly stolen by a gang of thieves.
The fully functioning artwork, titled America and valued at $6m, was plumbed into the palace’s pipework, creating significant water damage when it was stolen by a gang of thieves, who thwarted the building’s sophisticated security system.

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘Him’, 2001. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘We’, 2010. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘We’, 2010. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘La Nona Ora’, 1999. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘We’, 2010. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘Oliver and Tom’, 2019; ‘Others’, 2011. Photography:

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘We’ll Never Die’, 2019. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘We’ll Never Die’, 2019. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘Others’, 2011. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘Lessico Familiare’. Photography: Rosella Degori

Maurizio Cattelan, ‘Untitled’, 2019. Photography: Rosella Degori
Investigations by the police are ongoing, but the exhibition has reopened to the public this week – with Cattelan’s provocative and ‘prankster’ artworks responding to the building’s opulent architecture dark and unexpected ways.
Among them is a sculpture of Hitler praying on his knees inside the palace’s chapel, and a realistic model of Pope John Paul II being hit by a meteorite in one of its stately rooms. Elsewhere, one of the grand ceiling chandeliers has been swapped out for a taxidermied horse in the gallery, and a giant sculpture of Pinocchio floats, face down, in one of the garden’s water fountains.
The show runs until 27 October 2019.




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