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# Cattelan Uses Italian Stock Market as Stage to Say "Fuck You Very Much" with “L.O.V.E.”
- URL: https://hyperallergic.com/cattelan-fuck-you-very-much/
- Published: 2010-09-29T20:34:14.000Z
- Updated: 2025-11-24T15:41:18.000Z
- Description: Artist Maurizio Cattelan has unveiled his latest public art project in Milan. It’s titled “L.O.V.E.” (2010), it’s 13 ft tall, it’s made of marble, it’s a hand with a giant middle finger, and it’s placed in front of the Italian Stock Exchange. Poetic, right? Meh.
- Author: Hrag Vartanian
- Tags: Opinion, #image-position-hidden, capitalism, Italy, Maurizio Cattelan, Milan, #wp, #wp-post, #Import 2025-11-17 09:23 (2009-2011)

![](https://storage.ghost.io/c/51/f8/51f871d8-b6be-4a73-b958-0ca4fff0110a/content/images/hyperallergic-newspack-s3-amazonaws-com/uploads/2010/09/fc2true-med.jpg)

Cattelan being a “bad boy” in front of the Italian Stock Exchange. (image via designbom) (click to enlarge)

Artist Maurizio Cattelan has unveiled his latest public art project in Milan. It’s titled “L.O.V.E.” (2010), it’s 13 ft tall, it’s made of marble, it’s a hand with a giant middle finger, and it’s placed in front of the [Italian Stock Exchange](http://maps.google.com/maps?f=q&source=s%5Fq&hl=en&geocode=&q=Borsa+Italiana+S.P.A.,+Piazza+degli+Affari,+Milan,+Italia&sll=45.468059,9.181685&sspn=0.090531,0.216465&ie=UTF8&hq=&hnear=Borsa+Italiana+S.P.A.,+Piazza+degli+Affari,+6,+20123+Milano,+Lombardia,+Italy&ll=45.464405,9.18294&spn=0.022634,0.054116&z=15). Poetic, right? Meh.

Cattelan, who is known for his bad boy antics, has produced something that isn’t really much more than a goofy joke, right? I don’t mind the work as much as the artist’s explanations. He [told reporters](http://news.nationalpost.com/2010/09/27/middle-finger-sculpture-in-milan-sends-strong-message/?ref=hyperallergic.com) that the work “is mainly about imagination” — a statement that triggered by my highly developed **art bullshit detector**. The artist insists that the work is more about love (the title, get it?), which (not surprisingly) set off my bullshit detector again. Maybe my art bullshit detector is broken? I doubt it.

Sure it’s funny … but more than that?

[Designboom](http://www.designboom.com/weblog/cat/10/view/11639/maurizio-cattelans-middle-finger-displayed-in-milan.html?ref=hyperallergic.com) has a number of photos of the installation, which will be up until this Sunday, October 3.

*Homepage image via* [*flickr.com/latigi*](http://www.flickr.com/photos/latigi/5025286745/in/photostream/?ref=hyperallergic.com)