Until the end of August 2009, visitors to the Rudolfinum Gallery in Prague will have the opportunity to acquaint or reacquaint themselves, however fleetingly, with the work of the British artist Damien Hirst (b. 1965). Together the eleven exhibited works may only appear to represent a drop in the ocean that is Hirst’s seemingly infinite and unending output. Yet we should be pleased even for these, because none of his works have ever been shown in the Czech capital before.
Damien Hirst, a graduate of the prestigious Goldsmith’s College in London, became the main protagonist of the 90’s phenomenon labelled the ‘Young British Artists’ (YBAs). Following his success at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and his winning of the Turner Prize in 1995, his star has continued to rise to the superstar image he enjoys today. Hirst has innumerable supporters, as well as those critics who consider his international successes the result of a carefully calculated marketing campaign packaged with his superficially pleasing, sensation-seeking creations. Whatever the case may be, Damien Hirst is in a number of senses a unique phenomenon on the art scene.
Damien Hirst, a graduate of the prestigious Goldsmith’s College in London, became the main protagonist of the 90’s phenomenon labelled the ‘Young British Artists’ (YBAs). Following his success at the Venice Biennale in 1993 and his winning of the Turner Prize in 1995, his star has continued to rise to the superstar image he enjoys today. Hirst has innumerable supporters, as well as those critics who consider his international successes the result of a carefully calculated marketing campaign packaged with his superficially pleasing, sensation-seeking creations. Whatever the case may be, Damien Hirst is in a number of senses a unique phenomenon on the art scene.
All eleven works exhibited at the Rudolfinum come from a private museum; The Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art in Oslo. These represent a balanced cross section of his work from 1994 through to 2006, which introduces the visitor to the main formal as well as thematic aspects of the artist’s work. One of these is his fascination with death and (im)mortality, although this isn’t a trait particularly unique to him; we need think only of the mediaeval veneration of relics, or baroque mysticism.
Despite the fact that as regards the number of the works involved, the exhibition is significantly limited, it clearly demonstrates that Hirst is primarily a master of installation art, while his paintings often teeter on the brink of a kind of viewer-friendly decorativism. One need think only of the 353rd variant of the work Beautiful Amore, gasp eyes going into the top of the head and fluttering painting (1997) or Chloramphenicol Acetyltransferase (1996) commonly known as ‘spin and dots paintings’ (respectively), and the feeling that one is basically dealing with a well-marketed formalism is inescapable. But with his installations we do not encounter this sort of doubt, at least not with the works currently on display in Prague. The creators of the exhibition have not presented us with any of Hirst’s animals floating in formaldehyde, and in doing so demonstrate that he has much to offer us even with works that have received less media attention, both conceptually as well as in terms of visual impact. If only for the pieces Adam and Eve Exposed (2004) or The Martyrdom of St. Peter (2003), this Damien Hirst exhibition is worth seeing.
Despite the fact that as regards the number of the works involved, the exhibition is significantly limited, it clearly demonstrates that Hirst is primarily a master of installation art, while his paintings often teeter on the brink of a kind of viewer-friendly decorativism. One need think only of the 353rd variant of the work Beautiful Amore, gasp eyes going into the top of the head and fluttering painting (1997) or Chloramphenicol Acetyltransferase (1996) commonly known as ‘spin and dots paintings’ (respectively), and the feeling that one is basically dealing with a well-marketed formalism is inescapable. But with his installations we do not encounter this sort of doubt, at least not with the works currently on display in Prague. The creators of the exhibition have not presented us with any of Hirst’s animals floating in formaldehyde, and in doing so demonstrate that he has much to offer us even with works that have received less media attention, both conceptually as well as in terms of visual impact. If only for the pieces Adam and Eve Exposed (2004) or The Martyrdom of St. Peter (2003), this Damien Hirst exhibition is worth seeing.Damien Hirst: Life, Death and Love
curators: Gunnar B. Kvaran, Petr Nedoma
Rudolfinum (small gallery) , Prague, 21. 5. 2009 - 30. 8. 2009
www.galerierudolfinum.cz
Published in Flash Art, Vol. IV No 13-14, June - August 2009 (http://www.flashartonline.com/)
Published in Flash Art, Vol. IV No 13-14, June - August 2009 (http://www.flashartonline.com/)
