A controversial marble sculpture by Italy’s most famous living artist, Maurizio Cattelan, is to remain in position in the Piazza Affari in front of the Milan Stock Exchange at least until 24th October, reports the BBC.
The sculpture, which is four metres high but displayed on a plinth which brings its total height to eleven metres, depicts an enormous hand with a middle finger raised towards the sky. Opinion about it in Milan is sharply divided between those who think it is wonderful and those who believe it is an insult to Italy’s art heritage.
The Chairman of Milan’s Culture Committee, Maurizio Finazzer Flory, wants to give the sculpture a permanent home in the city’s new Museum of Modern Art, whilst other admirers of Cattelan’s work want it to remain exactly where it is because, they believe, it carries a wry anti-capitalist message.
The sculpture’s official title is “L.O.V.E” but originally Cattelan was going to call it “Omnia munda mundis” [“To the pure, all things are pure”]. To the Milanese, it has become known as simply, “Il dito medio” [“The Middle Finger”].
“Contro le ideologie” [“Against Ideologies”] a retrospective exhibition of Maurizio Cattelan’s work, is at the Sala delle Cariatide, Palazzo Reale, Milano until 24th October.
Opening times:
Monday – Friday, 17.00 – 22.30
Saturday: 09.30 – 22.00
Sunday: 09.30 – 19.30
Entrance fee: €5.00
