OZYMANDIAS
“I am Ozymandias, King of Pain. Look upon me and despair.”
At 24 feet wide and 8 feet tall, OZYMANDIAS is one of the most extreme paintings of our time. It reprises Francis Bacon’s adoption of the triptych as a formal device, while preserving much of the poignancy of Bacon's portraiture, but here on an astonishing scale - 100 times life size.
POSTSCRIPT
OZYMANDIAS is an almost exact contemporary of Damien Hirst’s TIGER SHARK.
It’s our perception that these two juggernaut London artworks from the 1990s were made for each other.
Given that Hirst’s intention was to “make something more real than painting,” we believe that bringing these two extreme artworks together would create a magnificent juxtaposition.
Sebastian Ferretti, University of Chicago
December, 2025