Maurizio Cattelan

“Never give an artist like me carte blanche: he would think it's simply toilet paper.”

“I never tried to make money - just enough to be able to eat.”

“Stuffed animals are sad and scary; they have humorous and tragic qualities.”

“I am not an artist.”

“I work more with my stomach than my brain.”

“Money is a bad friend. Don't ever do anything for money.”

“Based on my experience, it's considerably difficult to force a donkey into doing something it perceives to be dangerous for whatever reason.”

“If you are searching to figure out what is true and what is not, you will have a sad life. It means you have too much time, and you should do a hobby - like collecting art.”

“My aim is to be as open and as incomprehensible as possible. There has to be a perfect balance between open and shut.”

“I won't say I'm not fascinated by the way advertising works. I like the sleekness. But a picture in advertising doesn't last too long. They have to work for 30 seconds. And I'd like to reach at least two minutes. This is my goal: to break that two-minute record.”

“Art should be able to be innovative without compromising itself. That's why I believe artists should have bigger preoccupations than checking the price tags on their work or becoming curators' darlings.”

“The best art is on the street.”

“It's even more of a torture not to work than to work.”

“Gianni Agnelli was a sharp mind, and most of his interviews carried meanings between the lines that only now are fully readable.”

“Every work of art is a great promise of escape and, therefore, like an open invitation.”

“I am fascinated by the idea of employing beautiful images as a device to convey something extremely disturbing in an apparently harmless way.”

“From my point of view, humour and irony include tragedy; they're two sides of the same coin.”

“I think that laughter and death are closely related: comedy is the quintessential human reaction to the fear of death. It's probably linked with the fact that we are the only animals who know we must die.”

“Sooner or later, all magazines end up in the toilet.”

“Every morning, we choose between milk or tea or coffee. Usually, I know what I like, but I don't rule out changing my idea sometimes. The editing process is one of the most important parts in everyday life. The same is with my work: mistakes are part of the decision-making process.”