![Adrian Ghenie - The Fake Rothko [2010]](http://farm8.staticflickr.com/7727/16521115044_d125f1dd59_o.jpg)
The present work is a deeply personal reworking of the story of Saint Anthony of Egypt, the saint who the devil sought to tempt and seduce whilst in the desert, the archetypal biblical tale of will power put to the test. Ghenie’s identification with Saint Anthony, however, is not religious; it rather calls into question the notion of how he should appropriate and revivify the work of artists to whom he is attracted. Speaking about the recent leitmotifs of seduction and the devil in his work, Ghenie (born 1977) remarked: “I imagine that the devil will tempt me as Mark Rothko – all this when you are so attracted to someone because of his work.”
[Sotheby’s, London - Oil on canvas, 200 x 200.6 cm]