Damien Hirst’s diamond encrusted baby head
Posted By aidan on April 11, 2011
It is becoming increasingly clear that the glory days of the Brit art movement are officially coming to an end. The YBA’ s had an extraordinary impact on the art scene throughout the 1990’s and early noughties with their willingness to embrace new materials and processes producing new, highly conceptual art forms that were designed to have a shocking and sensational impact. It is more than evident that the YBA’s successfully challenged traditional understanding of high and low art. Yet their work, which was once considered novel, surreal and newsworthy, is now often subject to disparaging critique which accuses it of being banal and lacking in both substance and technique. All this being said, there remains one member of the Brit art movement who, despite coming under fire from many critics, retains almost an obscene level of popularity and success. No living artist has ever come close to competing with the level of fame and fortune that Damien Hirst has achieved and whether one agrees with it or not the very fact of the matter is difficult to ignore.
Despite being an incredibly controversial choice, Hirst is set to dominate the Tate’s programme during the 2012 Olympics, running alongside modern masters such as Picasso, Turner and Munch. The Tate Modern is going to be holding the first major retrospective of his work and with a sea of collectors clamouring to lend pieces amassed over the last 20 years, the work on display will include a diverse selection of paintings, cabinet sculptures and glass tank pieces. Even Harry Mount of The Telegraph, who scathingly claimed that Hirst’s work symbolised all that is ‘trashy and meretricious in modern British culture’ had to concede that this giant of the art world ‘hasn’t hit his sell by date yet’.
Nowhere does this ring more true than in Hong Kong, where art dealer Larry Gagosian recently opened another gallery and dedicated the inaugural exhibition to Hirst’s work. Entitled ‘Forgotten Promises’, it was Hirst’s first solo exhibition in Asia and heavily featured diamond works, golden sculptures and photo-realist paintings, some of which had never been seen before. As is typical of his shows, there was one particularly controversial piece. This time it came in the form of a human baby’s skull, encrusted with thousands of pink and white diamonds. Named ‘For Heaven’s Sake’ it was inspired by an earlier work based on the skull of an adult male, which reportedly sold for £50 million. The opening of a Gagosian gallery in Hong Kong reflects wider developments in the international art market.
Written by Kyle Reeves
Great post, thank you for sharing!
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