Aten
2015
Red marble, grey agate and gold leaf
Overall dimensions: 171 × 125 × 87 cm (67 5/16 × 49 3/16 × 34 1/4 in.)
The bust of a crowned Egyptian girl is subjected to various corporal modifications. Nipple piercing has been practiced by different peoples throughout history, but this piece of jewellery looks thoroughly contemporary.
History is combined with contemporaneity: Damien Hirst’s upward-looking red marble, grey agate and gold leaf bust evokes Pharaoh Akhenaten’s monotheistic revolution in the 14th century BC. Akhenaten replaced Egypt’s traditional pantheon with a single sun god called "Aten". The object of worship was then in the heavens.
Hirst's Aten was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2017 exhibition "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" at the Punta della Dogana.
History is combined with contemporaneity: Damien Hirst’s upward-looking red marble, grey agate and gold leaf bust evokes Pharaoh Akhenaten’s monotheistic revolution in the 14th century BC. Akhenaten replaced Egypt’s traditional pantheon with a single sun god called "Aten". The object of worship was then in the heavens.
Hirst's Aten was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the 2017 exhibition "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" at the Punta della Dogana.
Exhibitions
© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, Adagp, Paris.
Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
Exhibition view, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy, April 9 – December 3, 2017.
© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, Adagp, Paris.
Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
Exhibition view, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venice, Italy, April 9 – December 3, 2017.
