Little attention has been given to studying the important nuances and contributions of individual works by the artist Maurizio Cattelan. Since beginning his career as an "art world outsider," the artist has consistently resisted categorization of his work, be it stylistic, nationalistic or ideological. This has made an approach based on examining his social and political context in relation to individual works rather difficult. Instead, the scholarship surrounding his art has most frequently been in the form of a survey, using his earlier conceptual pieces to contextualize later installations and sculptures, an approach that limits a fuller understanding of Cattelan's art. Rather than reading specific works in the context of their individual exhibition history, critics place them in the trajectory of Cattelan's overall practice. Furthermore, much of the existing scholarship has relied on the artist's own discussions of his oeuvre, providing a superficial understanding of both his work and words. Thus, Cattelan has been generally understood and labeled the art-world "joker," and his artwork is seen as a series of "one-liners," limiting the reading of his work. I propose, instead, an in-depth study of specific sculptures, which will lead to a richer understanding of the artist's overall practice within a historical and contextual period. In my opinion, Cattelan's work has been overlooked in relation to notions of site specificity. Through a close reading of Cattelan's most pivotal work, La Nona Ora, I will argue that this artistic paradigm will prove a much more effective lens through which to view his practice. / Art History

This thesis document serves as a support paper for my exhibition titled, Selected Work. The goal of this document is to present and discuss a set of ideas and interests as they pertain to my studio practice and thesis project in particular, and to contemporary (ie. current) art practices in general. In this document I examine selected works from Marcel Duchamp, Andy Warhol, Andy Kaufman, Maurizio Cattelan and Richard Prince. Through the exploration of these artists and their works, I begin by examining the object and the conditions that give it approval as an art object. Using these conditions, I examine the effect that experience has on the object. This support paper will serve as a glossary of terms and theoretical concerns relevant to my thesis exhibition / vi, 64 leaves : col. ill. ; 29 cm