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Franco de Benetetto, a 42-year-old Italian construction worker, more or less destroyed a temporary public sculpture by the internationally known artist Maurizio Cattelan. The work, unveiled at noon the day before, consisted of three life-size, lifelike sculptures of cherubic barefoot boys hanging by their necks from nooses on a branch of an oak tree in the venerable Piazza XXIV Maggio in Milan.
Mr. de Benetetto, aided by passers-by who distracted a security guard, climbed the tree and cut down two of the figures before falling to the ground ... dozens of people remained clustered around the tree discussing the work for several days after its removal ...
New York recently missed a chance for a Cattelan-style test of its tolerance for ambiguity and multiple meanings. The Whitney Museum of American Art invited Mr. Cattelan, who lives in New York, to take part in this year's Biennial Exhibition but balked when he proposed a piece that would have consisted of a life-size lifelike sculpture hanging from a flagpole in front of the museum. Mr. Cattelan's second proposal, which was accepted, was a permanent installation that rendered the art invisible. He buried an early sculpture—one that he had never been quite happy with—beneath the museum's lobby.
- ROBERTA SMITH, "Why Attack Art? Its Role Is to Be Helpful," new york times May 13, 2004
posted May 12, 2004 in art, print. 20052001