HIGH LINE BILLBOARD: Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for Toilet Paper
HIGH LINE BILLBOARD
Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari for Toilet Paper, Untitled
On view Thursday, May 31 to Friday, June 29, 2012 Sunday, July 1
Billboard next to the High Line at West 18th Street
High Line Art, presented by Friends of the High Line, is pleased to announce that Toilet Paper, the magazine spearheaded and edited by artist Maurizio Cattelan and photographer Pierpaolo Ferrari, present a commission for the 25-by-75 foot billboard next to the High Line at West 18th Street and 10th Avenue. This is the fourth work to be presented as part of HIGH LINE BILLBOARD, a series of art installations made possible thanks to the generous support of Edison Properties, the owner of the property on which the billboard stands. The series was inaugurated in December, 2011 with John Baldessari’s The First $100,000 I Ever Made, and has included works by Anne Collier and David Shrigley. The new HIGH LINE BILLBOARD by Toilet Paper will be on view from Thursday, May 31 through Friday, June 29, 2012.
For High Line Art, Cattelan and Ferrari have selected an image that at first perfectly blends in with nearby advertisements, but when viewed carefully, encourages a variety of free associations. The image depicts ten female fingers that initially appear to be detached from their hands by mysteriously popping out of a blue velvet background. Like an illusionistic trick performed by a magician, this eerie image highlights the deceptive power of photography, sketching an ambiguous visual tableau reminiscent of Surrealism. Like a Man Ray photograph, the image conjures a dreamlike atmosphere of a film noir, while at the same time it speaks of the city as a projection of dreams of opulence.
Founded by Maurizio Cattelan and Pierpaolo Ferrari in 2010, Toilet Paper is a magazine in pictures without words which investigates our contemporary obsession with images and the way in which commercial photography constructs desire and manipulates our vision. In Cattelan and Ferrari’s carefully constructed photo shoots, the vocabulary of fashion and commercial photography is at the same time celebrated and parodied, by creating what can seemingly be described as advertisement stripped bare of any product.
“Toilet Paper is a surprising experiment that explores the power of photography to create visual illusions,” said Cecilia Alemani, the Donald R. Mullen, Jr. Curator & Director of High Line Art at Friends of the High Line. “When immersed in the surrounding landscapes of advertising, Cattelan and Ferrari’s images become even more powerful as they reveal ways in which status and desires are constructed by commercial photography.”
About Maurizio Cattelan
Maurizio Cattelan (b. 1960) lives in Milan and New York. His works have been exhibited internationally at venues like the Museum of Modern Art, New York; the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles; the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York; Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; Tate Modern, London; and the Warsaw Zachçeta National Gallery, Poland; among many others.
About Pierpaolo Ferrari
Pierpaolo Ferrari (b. 1971) lives in Milan. As an advertising photographer Ferrari has worked with Nike, Audi, Mercedes, Samsung, Ray Ban, Alpha Romeo, Vespa, Campari, MTV, and the Biennale of Venice, among others. In 2006, together with Federico Pele, he created the art magazine Le Dictateur. For several years now, he has been doing fashion photography, including Uomo Vogue.
Support
High Line Art is presented by Friends of the High Line and the New York City Department of Parks & Recreation. High Line Art is supported by Vital Projects Fund, Inc., and, in part, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council and from the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature. In-kind sponsorship for HIGH LINE BILLBOARD is provided by Edison Properties.
