Goofy

Colonised by a host of barnacles, small crustaceans that live in warm areas, the sculpture looks like an underwater coral reef. Long since vanished under the thick layer of tiny "volcanoes", it is equal to the most amazing millennia-old treasures, such as those found in ancient shipwrecks.

Goofy, a bronze sculpture that takes realistic details of crustaceans to an extreme, is a fantasised depiction of the anthropomorphic dog Dingo, Mickey Mouse's best friend. It belongs to a series of Damien Hirst’s works based on Disney characters, including Mickey and The Collector with Friend, which ironically pass for ancient sculptures extracted from the seabed.

Hirst's Goofy was exhibited for the first time by the Pinault Collection during the 2017 show "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" at the Palazzo Grassi.