Wednesday, June 21, 2006
YBA to Middle Aged Businessman
At the Gagosian Gallery in London there is an exhibition by the once "Young British Artist", now middle-aged art mogul, Damien Hirst. He is showing a variety of works from different periods of his career.
Here's part of the Press Release from the Gagosian Gallery..
Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Damien Hirst. Included in the exhibition is the seminal vitrine, A Thousand Years (1990), and four triptychs: paintings, medicine cabinets and a new formaldehyde work entitled The Tranquility of Solitude (For George Dyer), influenced by Francis Bacon.
There's also a good article over at the Guardian about Hirst and his exhibition..
You can only go down
"..despite his army, his stately home in Gloucestershire, his land in Mexico, his properties in Lambeth and Devon, his art's seemingly unassailable market value and his sheer celebrity, he does not feel safe. There's Hirst's old friend, fear of death, to contend with. And then there is all that money - burdensome, bringer of both responsibility and distraction, horribly fragile. "The whole thing could fall apart with a war," he says. "I always think it can be taken away from you at any moment. People talk about safe investments, but Lloyd's Bank could collapse. Banks have collapsed in our lifetime." Guardian
>> Art Exhibitions, Damien Hirst News ¶ 11:06 PM
At the Gagosian Gallery in London there is an exhibition by the once "Young British Artist", now middle-aged art mogul, Damien Hirst. He is showing a variety of works from different periods of his career.Here's part of the Press Release from the Gagosian Gallery..
Gagosian Gallery is pleased to announce an exhibition of works by Damien Hirst. Included in the exhibition is the seminal vitrine, A Thousand Years (1990), and four triptychs: paintings, medicine cabinets and a new formaldehyde work entitled The Tranquility of Solitude (For George Dyer), influenced by Francis Bacon.
There's also a good article over at the Guardian about Hirst and his exhibition..
You can only go down
"..despite his army, his stately home in Gloucestershire, his land in Mexico, his properties in Lambeth and Devon, his art's seemingly unassailable market value and his sheer celebrity, he does not feel safe. There's Hirst's old friend, fear of death, to contend with. And then there is all that money - burdensome, bringer of both responsibility and distraction, horribly fragile. "The whole thing could fall apart with a war," he says. "I always think it can be taken away from you at any moment. People talk about safe investments, but Lloyd's Bank could collapse. Banks have collapsed in our lifetime." Guardian
>> Art Exhibitions, Damien Hirst News ¶ 11:06 PM
Are we not all bored with the whole YBA thing by now? I do not envy Damien and his money and I feel a kind of pity for the sad collectors of his work. The man, his work and the collectors appear to have a sort of vacume in their souls. Empty lives and minds are reflected in the meaningless bits of carcass in formaldehyde or painted boxes called medicine cabinets. I am reminded of 19th Centuary aristocrats with more money than sense paying a guinee to see the freak show. Damien's work has only a little of the fun of a victorian freak show but none of the pathos.
For me art needs to offer a little something more than an oppourtunity to go "oo arr gosh". When I look at work by old masters or the really good modern stuff i feel my soul receiving nurishment and my mind state enhanced. An artist I especially like (as regular readers will already know) is Nicola Slattery. Ive signed using her web site as previously requested so you can see what I mean. I wish the work of thinking artists received more attention in the art world rather than the work of the thinking and very clever hypester - marketers.
It is a pity the words art and artist have become debased to the point of loosing meaning. If my dog dumps on the sidewalk I can declare it a piece of art and myself an artist (the dog is simply my chosen instrument, the turd my medium and the pavement my canvas). Many people are put off modern art by the confusion of art with the mumbo jumbo of the whole YBA thing. They fear being branded a philistine - a hick - an unsophisticate for saying the emperor has no clothes. Trust your own feelings and look into your soul and then lets all demand more from our art!
For me art needs to offer a little something more than an oppourtunity to go "oo arr gosh". When I look at work by old masters or the really good modern stuff i feel my soul receiving nurishment and my mind state enhanced. An artist I especially like (as regular readers will already know) is Nicola Slattery. Ive signed using her web site as previously requested so you can see what I mean. I wish the work of thinking artists received more attention in the art world rather than the work of the thinking and very clever hypester - marketers.
It is a pity the words art and artist have become debased to the point of loosing meaning. If my dog dumps on the sidewalk I can declare it a piece of art and myself an artist (the dog is simply my chosen instrument, the turd my medium and the pavement my canvas). Many people are put off modern art by the confusion of art with the mumbo jumbo of the whole YBA thing. They fear being branded a philistine - a hick - an unsophisticate for saying the emperor has no clothes. Trust your own feelings and look into your soul and then lets all demand more from our art!
Hey Earl, I mostly agree with you. I still think Hirst is interesting though, and so do the media as they keep talking about him.
I've started a new Artist Interviews section where I plan to ask some artists about their art. I'm not sure how close you are to Nicola, but if you asked her some questions similar to the Anthony White interview, I would probably publish it and link to her site.
I just figured that you mention her a bit, so you might be interested in asking her some questions.
info@artnewsblog.com
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I've started a new Artist Interviews section where I plan to ask some artists about their art. I'm not sure how close you are to Nicola, but if you asked her some questions similar to the Anthony White interview, I would probably publish it and link to her site.
I just figured that you mention her a bit, so you might be interested in asking her some questions.
info@artnewsblog.com
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