Piero MANZONI (1933 – 1963)

Tin can, printed paper and excrement*

Inscribed on the lid “PRODUCED BY Piero Manzoni No. 39”

In unopened clear plastic pouch with facsimile of the fingerprint of Manzoni

1 7/8 x 2 1/2 x 2 1/2 in (4.8 x 6.5 x 6.5 cm) 0.1 kg

Released by the Piero Manzoni Foundation, 50 years after the death of the artist. The edition is 9000, the original numbering (1/90) is repeated 100 times. The number offered here is number 39.

This is an authorized and approved reproduction of the artist’s seminal work, “Merda d’Artista,” in which Manzoni packaged multiple 30gr tins of his excrement as if it was manufactured for sale. It is descriptive of Manzoni’s ironic and perverse style. Calling into play his specific dialogue with the relationship between art production and human production* Agostino Bonalumi, who worked with Manzoni, recently wrote in Corriere della Sera, that the 90 30-gramme tins that Manzoni filled in 1961 before his untimely death aged 29, contained not faeces but plaster. This might be one of the greatest outrages perpetrated in the history of art. Or not.

Quite possibly the contents don't do exactly what they say on the tin. "I can assure everyone the contents were only plaster," writes Bonalumi. "If anyone wants to verify this, let them do so."

Please click HERE for full fact sheet

Dallas (2022): Assisted Readymade (Winter 2022)