Made By Bees: This Artist Uses Beewax And Honeybees To Sculpt An Incredible Bust Of Nefertiti
The Slovak artist Tomas Libertini has this to say about his work: “This new gigantic bust was made in collaboration with 60.000 honeybees invited by me to build their beeswax honeycomb around the skeleton I made of Nefertiti.”
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The amazing work of art is based on the 3D model of the authentic portrait of the Egyptian queen. The portrait was made in 1345 B.C., and it’s now possible to see it on permanent display @staatlichemuseenzuberlin.
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The process of building this bust took a whopping 2 years to complete. It’s an indication of the strength and the timelessness of “mother nature” as well as its historical character as a powerful female reigning against all odds.
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The queen and her husband Pharoah Akhenaten were well-known for abandoning the polytheism of ancient Egypt and introducing Athen, the sun god, even though their attempts failed.
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The beeswax bust is making the connection to the “mother nature” more materialistic as well as transcendent. The entire process consisted of two stages.
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The project was first shown at @kunsthal in Rotterdam in the summer of 2019 as a “live installation” where visitors had the opportunity to see the process of bees building the artwork at the museum. After that, it was finished entirely in 2020 and exhibited as a part of the artist’s solo show named “Melancholia” at Rademakers Gallery in Amsterdam which ran until the end of January 2021.
