Maurizio Cattelan’s bullet-strewn gold installation in New York draws a connection between wealth and violence

The Italian artist and provocateur Maurizio Cattelan shines a light on gun violence and the divisions in US society in a new installation at Gagosian (522 West 21st Street, until 15 June). Cattelan’s piece Sunday (2024) consists of 64 stainless-steel panels plated in 24-carat gold and dotted with thousands of bullet holes.

The work was created by a group of licensed professionals at a gun range in Brooklyn, who shot more than 20,000 rounds into the 3mm-thick panels, which were made in Europe. “We live in a world where the rich are getting richer and the poor are becoming poorer,” Cattelan tells The Art Newspaper.

“History has taught us how violently that polarisation can end. This idea was present in America [the solid-gold toilet installed at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in 2016], and I have used gold once again to talk about another aspect of the United States. America was about wealth, and this new work is about violence and wealth,” he adds.

The work is paired with an editioned marble sculpture, November (2024), that depicts an unhoused figure urinating on a bench. “If you’re free to buy an assault rifle in a department store, what’s wrong with pissing in public?” Francesco Bonami, the exhibition curator, said in a statement.

While Gagosian declined to comment on cost, The Art Newspaper understands that the panels are individually priced between $300,000 and $400,000. Cattelan is not represented by Gagosian but instead chooses to work with galleries on individual projects.

The artist is known for his headline-hitting conceptual works—such as Comedian, his 2019 showstopper at Art Basel in Miami Beach. Comedian was just a banana attached to the wall with grey duct tape, but the conceptually audacious, over-ripe readymade drew crowds and divided critics.