Mako shark with amalgam of skulls and bones on its belly. Silver-plated bronze, Paumelle Foundry.
Thierry Benenati's Graveyard Shark is a powerful work that blends brute force and the fragility of existence in a depiction as striking as it is disturbing. This Mako shark, with its slender, fearsome silhouette, becomes a bearer of death, its belly bursting into a macabre heap of skulls and bones.
The contrast between the shark's smooth, silvery surface and the rough texture of the human remains embedded within its body is striking. The polished, almost mirror-like metal reflects the predator's ruthless purity, while the skulls seem to emerge from the bowels of the ocean like relics from an underwater graveyard, a reminder of the natural and inevitable violence of the food chain.
Mounted on a sleek base, this sculpture seems to hover above the surface, frozen in an icy eternity. With Graveyard Shark , Benenati doesn't just depict a shark; he creates an allegory of life and death, a work that invites us to reflect on the delicate balance between predator and prey, between beauty and horror.
Offered at €48,000, this unique silver-plated bronze piece, cast at the Fonderie Paumelle, is a spectacular addition to any collection that seeks to push the boundaries of contemporary art while confronting the viewer with their own fears and fascinations.
