The King Is Naked

The King Is Naked Digital collage, 2025 – Honys Torres

The King Is Naked portrays Spain’s former monarch at one of the most disgraceful moments of his public life: when international media exposed him for paying €50,000 to hunt an elephant in Botswana in 2012, while Spain was facing a deep economic crisis. The scandal was so severe that Juan Carlos I eventually abdicated in favor of his son, Felipe VI, in 2014.

The artwork shows him crowned, armed, and wearing a WWF vest—an organization ironically dedicated to wildlife protection—surrounded by symbolic animals like rhinos, bulls, and leopards. Phrases such as “YO NO FUI” (“It wasn’t me”), “CHASCO” (“Disappointment”), “BREAKING NEWS”, and “el REY está desnudo!” (“The King is naked!”) turn the scandal into a media spectacle, while cities like Sanxenxo, Abu Dhabi, and Geneva mark his golden exile.

The King Is Naked is a biting parody of power, impunity, and institutional hypocrisy. A critique of royal spectacle, where the crown teeters between safari, scandal, and headlines.

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https://www.saatchiart.com/art/Digital-El-Rey-esta-desnudo/1368215/13472209/view