Artist creates Nativity figurines depicting people pooping

BLOUIN | ARTINFO
By Rachel Courbett

Caganers are figurines depicting people pooping that are placed in nativity scenes as a symbol of good luck and fertility. They began appearing more than two centuries ago in the Catalan region of Spain and have spread throughout the area.

NEW YORK---For art lovers looking for unconventional holiday stocking stuffers, the New York-based artist Elliott Arkin may have just the thing with his new line of Maurizio Cattelan caganers. For those unfamiliar with the bizarre, 200-year-old tradition, a caganer is a defecating figurine placed in nativity scenes throughout Catalonian regions of Spain, Italy, Portugal, and France. Arkin has now made a limited-edition series of 50 hand-painted Cattelan caganers, each complete with an 18-karat gold-plated bronze “deposit,” shaped like the Guggenheim spiral. They sell for $500 each, with proceeds benefitting Arkin’s nonprofit art organization Mister Artsee. [link]