The Egg, 2006
- Medium
- Steel, wood, mirror, Plexiglass, Styrofoam, magic sculpt, acrylic paint, gray squirrels, barn owl, blue tit, synthetic pine branches, pine cones, acorns, synthetic flowers, minerals (quartz, sulfur, amethyst, flourite, vanvdinite, hematite), butt plugs, l
- Dimensions
- 87 1/4 x 71 x 50 in. (244.5 x 180.3 x 127 cm)
- Accession Number
- 2009.1
- Credit
The Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles
Gift of Alan S. Hergott and Curt Shepard
David Altmejd’sThe Egg presents a fantastical, even grotesque, scene in which a crystal-sprouting, decomposing carcass has become a habitat for squirrels. The steel cage of the diorama like structure contains an intricate array of both natural and artificial materials: real pine cones, crystals, and taxidermied animals alongside synthetic flowers, mirrors, gold chains, glitter, and leather bondage wear. This mix of materials is paralleled by a variety of art-historical references: the decaying figure calls up agisant, a representation of a deceased person lying on their tomb; the flowers and pine tree branches evoke the vanitas theme of still-life paintings, meant to be a reminder of the transience of life; and the display vitrine suggests a reliquary, the container used to hold holy objects, often body parts belonging to saints.
