Maurizio Cattelan Gives Us the Finger with L.O.V.E.

Photo by Latigi, courtesy Flickr

Maurizio Cattelan's "L.O.V.E."

I'm sorry if I offend anyone with this masterful piece of artwork that I happened to come across a couple of days ago. I just had to express my sincere L.O.V.E. (official title of the sculpture, aka The Finger) for this wonderful display which sits outside Milan's stock exchange. It's artist Maurizio Cattelan's kind gesture, the old salute, to how he feels about where our economy has gone.

Okay, it's a middle finger flipping everybody off. Yadda Yadda... Big whoop. What I see is a 30-foot-high marble sculpture standing tall and free with great detail on the veins and wrinkles. It's just... Just.... Breathtaking... All right. Fine. It's a middle finger. But I must say, if I had to steal any piece of artwork, this certainly would be the one. And it wouldn't be for the money either. Just think of the statement you could make with this thing. If society and it's people just so happened to piss me off and I got annoyed at their stupidity, I could just put on four wheels on the bottom of this gigantic sculpture and haul it to the nearest idiot and leave it right in front of them while I kindly smile and walk away. I mean, it's perfect. No violence involved. No arguing. It's just a silent way of showing my sincere "love."

As I sign off with today's piece of artwork, I tell you to take in what you see. Sit and examine the complexity of the middle finger. The mere power of the middle finger. I was waiting for this moment to come, and Maurizio Cattelan had the balls to actually pull this stunt off. I already browsed through some of his other works, and boy is he one controversial fellow. Let's see what he has in store next.

Until next week...