Marianne Vitale

portrait by Jeremy Liebman
MAURIZIO CATTELAN’s women artists interview series
in collaboration with MARTA PAPINA

portrait by JEREMY LIEBMAN

 

MAURIZIO CATTELAN — When did you start thinking of yourself as an artist? Is it something you can desire when you’re a child, such as being an astronaut or a dancer?
MARIANNE VITALE — I was inspired by the reproduction of Guernica that hung in my playroom as a young child. The adults must have overlooked that this image was a portrayal of the violence and agony of war. Regardless, there it was, an image I confronted for over a decade. Wide-eyed bulls, slayed horses with daggered tongues. Women in agony, dismembered soldiers, cracked walls. I picked up on the idea of transferring emotion through art. That could have been the inspired foundation.

MAURIZIO CATTELAN — How would you describe your practice?
MARIANNE VITALE — I…