Damien Hirst
The exhibition derives its name from its centerpiece, a severed bull's head adorned with golden horns and a solid gold disc crown. Preserved in formaldehyde and enclosed in a gilded vitrine, this monumental sculpture serves as a striking conclusion to Hirst's earlier artwork, "The Golden Calf" (2008). "End of an Era" presents a sacrificial head, detached from the grand body of its predecessor. While "The Golden Calf" symbolized the idolatry of false gods, "End of an Era" (2009) dismantles the biblical narrative, challenging Hirst's own mythmaking.
Accompanying the exhibition is "Judgement Day" (2009), a thirty-foot-long gold cabinet filled with nearly thirty thousand artificial diamonds. In addition, a series of photorealistic paintings depicting famous diamonds like "The Golden Jubilee" (2008), "The Agra" (2006), and "The Premiere Rose" (2006) are exhibited together for the first time.