Maurizio Cattelan's Bold, Humorous and Irreverent Art Hanging in the Middle of the Guggenheim Museum Rotunda

"La Nona Ora" (1999) An eerily lifelike sculpture of Pope John Paul II hit by a large meteorite

"Now" (2004) an effigy of a serene and barefoot John F. Kennedy lying in state, a martyr to a shattered American idealism seen from the perspective of a disillusioned present. 

"Him" (2001) a rendering of Adolf Hitler in the scale of a young boy, kneeling preposterously in a pose of supplication.

"Novecento" (1997), taxidermied horse, and "Daddy, Daddy" (2008) the puppet Pinocchio

A retrospective of the works of Italian contemporary artist MAURIZIO CATTELAN opened last night at the Guggenheim Museum. The exhibition is considered one of the "strangest, most audacious exhibitions in the Guggenheim's half-century history." A hanging collage of Cattelan's artworks, the site-specific installation called "MAURIZIO CATTELAN: ALL" involves suspending several thousand pounds' and millions of dollars' worth of internationally collected art from cables attached to aluminum truss installed almost 90 feet in the air in a disorienting, haphazard mass under the museum's elegant glass dome. The unconventional presentation brings together Cattelan's works created since 1989, including sculptures, paintings, photographs and works on paper. Maurizio Cattelan has created some of the most unforgettable images in recent contemporary art, with themes obtained from popular culture, history, and organized religion to a meditation on the self. The exhibit runs through January 22, 2012. The Guggenheim Museum is located in Manhattan's Upper East Side at 1071 Fifth Avenue at 89th Street. More information from the Guggenheim Museum website.