Painting
MASTER CUTS OUT THE STONE (after Hemessen)
Pepenardo · 2026
Creator
PepenardoYear
2026
Dimensions
56 x 40 in.
Materials
Oil on canvas
Location
BMAG Nashville
Collection of
The artist
Type
Painting
Exhibition
MEMETIKRONAbout This Work
MASTER CUTS OUT THE STONE (after Hemessen) merges Renaissance medical allegory with digital culture, appropriating Jan Sanders van Hemessen's 1550 painting The Surgeon — a scene depicting the fraudulent extraction of a "stone of madness" from a patient's forehead. Here, Pepe assumes the surgeon's role in a satirical commentary on extraction, charlatanism, and belief systems. Set against the backdrop of Bitcoin anime imagery and internet folklore, the painting examines who extracts and who is extracted from within the cycles of memetic warfare and speculative mythology.
Provenance
Current
The artist
Exhibited
MEMETIKRON, April 2026
About the Artist
Pepenardo
Pepenardo is a genius of anomalous proportion.
8 works in the BMAG collection
Now on View
MEMETIKRON
Images in the Age of Symbolic Capital
April 1, 2026 — April 29, 2026
Interested in This Piece?
This piece is part of BMAG's permanent collection and is not currently listed for sale. If you're interested, please reach out and we'll be in touch.
See It In Person
BMAG is open for private tours by appointment. Visit our Nashville gallery to experience the permanent collection firsthand.
