Sèvres Lucanus Cervus

About the work

One of a series of works inspired by the 18th-century Sèvres porcelain in the Wallace Collection, this piece adorns a European stag beetle with the resplendent swags and stripes of Vase grec à rosettes of the first size, in the Collection’s Large Drawing Room. Printed with archival pigment inks on 308gsm cotton rag.

Describing himself as an ‘accidental artist’, Magnus Gjoen was born in London to Norwegian parents and had a successful career in fashion before his thought-provoking spin on old masterpieces and fragments from the past made him a sought-after name in permanent collections around the world, including the Haifa Museum of Art and the Daimler Collection. Blending genres from completely different worlds, Magnus’ art is about rediscovery. He questions the notion of beauty by juxtaposing a range of styles and media, injecting a fine-art approach with a street/pop aesthetic that invites viewers to look closer, question, and challenge.