Old DNA

Dutch artist Folkert de Jong is internationally recognized for figurative sculptures that mine issues of empire, trauma and myth. Originating in a 3D scan of a suit of armor belonging to the aging Henry VIII in the permanent collection of the Royal Armouries in Leeds, Old DNA (2014) is a psychological portrait of power and the way it can endure and decay. As a public monument, it occupies a peculiar factual space: “the scene De Jong creates does not feel like an official history,” writes curator Sam Lackey of the Hepworth Wakefield museum, “but rather a hidden or unseen moment—an uncovered conspiracy from the past.”

Year: 2014