Damien Hirst and the Aztec Sunstone

In the spirit of the project (look for the very convincing film which sets the scene on Netflix), the bronze ‘Calendar Stone’, measuring 422.5 × 475.8 × 172.3 cm, was, like the other pieces, ‘heavily encrusted in corals and other marine life’. The label accompanying the piece read ‘Time and cosmic order were indelibly intertwined in Mesoamerica. This calendar’s concentric rings symbolise both specific temporal measurements – including the twenty-day month – and broader cosmological concepts, such as the four world epochs that were believed to have passed. The central figure’s clawed hands and half-skeletal face are depicted upturned, the body hidden, suggesting the disc may originally have been viewed from above.’

Whilst at first glance Hirst’s ‘Calendar Stone’ looks remarkably similar to the original, the differences are soon apparent. Start with the mashed-up central face - best seen by following the deskgram link below...

Photo by, courtesy of and many thanks to Mark English (Mark English Associates).