Damien Hirst

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Damien Hirst (2007)

Damien Hirst (born June 7, 1965 in Bristol ) is a British sculptor , painter and conceptual artist and curator of individual exhibitions. In 1988 he organized the Freeze exhibition in the London harbor district, which is considered to be the birth of the Young British Artists phenomenon , and became the group's best-known representative in the 1990s. He was best known for his provocative sculptures that deal with the themes of death, religion, life or consumer culture. His best-known works include several animal bodies inlaid in formaldehyde and a diamond-studded human skull entitled For the Love of God .

life and work

Hirst was born in Bristol but grew up in Leeds. His father, a car mechanic, left the family when he was twelve years old. His mother was a Catholic Irish woman. From 1986 to 1989 Hirst took the Fine Arts course at Goldsmiths College in London . Hirst was particularly interested in this course because he did not want to concentrate on a single art direction such as painting or sculpture . In 1988 he curated titled Freeze ( freeze ) an exhibition in an empty warehouse in the port district of London, in which he and other artists exhibited their works. Another exhibition he organized followed in 1990 through Modern Medicine . Both exhibitions made the artist famous, he also shot commercial music videos, set up a restaurant and produced pop songs.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

Famous of Hirst in was formaldehyde pickled tiger shark . The container with the dead shark is named The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991) ( The physical impossibility of death in the mind of a living person ). The presentation was similar to that in a natural history museum , but in the context of art it became a contradicting, provocative and striking metaphor for aggression and vitality, but also for art and conservation. The work was as controversial as the prepared in the same way sheep entitled Away from the Flock ( away from the herd ), which was shown in a co-organized by Hirst exhibition 1994th A visitor tried to sabotage the work and poured ink into the liquid. This action drew a lot of attention to the exhibition and made Hirst's sheep one of the most famous works of contemporary art. In 1996 he prepared several cows for his work of art Some Comfort gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent lies in Everything , which were arranged as full-body cross-sections in 12 containers filled with formaldehyde and set up in a row of cuts.

Like his formaldehyde preparations, other works by the artist also deal with life and death, such as his cage installation A Thousand Years (1990), in which countless flies buzz around a cow's head and slowly break it down and reintegrate it into the cycle of nature. On the other hand, still lifes such as his Still (1994), in which medical devices are neatly arranged in pharmacy cabinets, or Pharmacy with shelves filled with packaging of pharmaceutical preparations are less sensational ; in the center of the latter, however, there is again a cage, this time containing rats and a fly trap with UV lighting.

For the Love of God

On June 1, 2007, Hirst presented the platinum cast of a skull set with 8601 diamonds at the White Cube in London . A 52- carat diamond sits enthroned on the forehead . The work, entitled For the Love of God , sold for 75 million euros (50 million pounds) in August 2007, making it currently the most expensive work in contemporary art, according to British media reports. Acquired the skull that served as the model for the cast the artist in a shop in the London borough of Islington . It is said to come from an approximately 35-year-old European who lived in the 18th century. The work of art was exhibited in a darkened room with massive security measures. Hirst himself commented on his work: “I hope the people who see the work feel good, it should be edifying and take your breath away.” Two days after the sale, the press spokeswoman for the White Cube Gallery, Sara Macdonald, known that Hirst himself was a member of the buyer group. At the same time as the publication of the work of art, a marketing campaign for secondary use began using items such as posters, T-shirts and documentation on production.

Other works

The auction house Sotheby’s auctioned his work Lullaby Spring in June 2007 for around 14.5 million euros. It was the highest price that had been achieved up to that point for the work of an artist who was still alive. With an estimated fortune of one billion dollars, Hirst is considered the richest artist ever. His million dollar golden calf , 2008, is also known .

After there wasn't much news from Hirst in previous years, he presented his new work For Heaven's Sake at the beginning of 2011 , an allusion to his most discussed work For the Love of God . It is again a platinum-cast, diamond-studded skull, with the difference that the approximately 100-year-old skull of a toddler was used as the starting material, which again provoked some controversy.

In October 2012, Verity was installed in the port of Ilfracombe . The oversized statue shows a sword-bearing, heavily pregnant, half-skinned woman. This 25-ton bronze sculpture was also controversially discussed in the media and the art world as well as in the population of the small town in southwest England.

"New sales channels" and "new customer groups"

Bypassing gallery owners, Hirst had 287 of his works sold directly from the studio in a two-day auction at Sotheby's in 2008; they generated $ 172 million in revenue. In management courses at business schools, Hirst serves as a successful case study for “strategic innovations” that opens up “new sales channels” and new customer groups: “Hirst did not trust traditional art lovers, but specifically sought out Russian oligarchs, Arab oil sheiks and Anglo-Saxon hedge - Fund manager as buyer ". Some art critics reject this marketing. The critic Robert Hughes noted that Hirst had reduced his art to a commercial brand. Such art has no meaning beyond its financial value.

In 2013, Hirst is no longer included in the Power 100 list of Art Review magazine for the first time since the list was launched . The market prices of his works have crashed.

Charitable commitment

Damien Hirst has repeatedly been involved in the human rights organization Survival International . In 2008, his artwork Beautiful Love Survival was auctioned at Sotheby’s in London for the benefit of the human rights organization . He is also a supporter of a book by Survival's director Stephen Corry . The artist is also “co-founder of Strummerville, a foundation for the promotion of young musicians. It was created in memory of the late Joe Strummer, the legendary punk musician and co-founder of the punk rock band The Clash ”.

Awards

Exhibitions (selection)

Others

Hirst is close friends with the British snooker player Ronnie O'Sullivan and regularly sits in the audience at his games.

literature

  • Ulrich Blanché: Damien Hirst. Gallery Art in a Material World , Baden-Baden 2018. ISBN 978-3-8288-4030-0
  • Damien Hirst, Gordon Burn: On the Way to Work , London 2001. ISBN 978-0-571-20257-7
  • Raimar Stange: Damien Hirst. In: Burkhard Riemschneider, Uta Grosenick: Art at the turn of the Millennium. Outlook on the new millennium. Taschen Verlag, Cologne 1999; Pp. 226-228. ISBN 978-3-8228-7195-9

Web links

Commons : Damien Hirst  - collection of images, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Blanché, pp. 56-60.
  2. ↑ Blanché, pp. 192-216.
  3. ↑ a b c Tiroler Tageszeitung Online : Damien Hirst turns 50: Sharks, cows and big money , (June 1, 2015)
  4. ↑ a b c rod 1999
  5. ↑ FAZ.net: "Unfrischer Fisch" (June 29, 2006)
  6. ↑ SPIEGEL Online: "Diamond skull achieves record price" (August 30, 2007)
  7. ^ Damien Hirst: For the Love of God, 2007
  8. ↑ Focus.de: "A skull for 75 million"
  9. ↑ sueddeutsche.de: "The artist buys himself"
  10. ↑ Artnet.de: "Diamond Dust Connection"
  11. ↑ n-tv: "Installation for 14.5 million euros - record price for Damien Hirst" (June 22, 2007)
  12. ^ Wall Street Journal: Damien Hirst Skips the Middleman
  13. ↑ Damien Hirst and the baby skull - For God's sake
  14. ↑ The result of pompous kitsch, on 'sueddeutsche.de' (accessed on October 21, 2012)
  15. ^ Damien Hirst Skips the Middleman , in: The Wall Street Journal, October 17, 2008.
  16. ^ What managers can learn from Damien Hirst , in: Handelsblatt dated February 8, 2010.
  17. ↑ Vanessa Thorpe: Top critic lashes out at Damien Hirst's 'tacky' art. In: theguardian.com. September 6, 2008, accessed March 5, 2017 .
  18. ↑ "Art Review Power 100 - This is the most powerful woman in the art world"  ( page no longer available , search in web archives )  Info: The link was automatically marked as defective. Please check the link according to the instructions and then remove this notice. on www.welt.de@1@ 2Template: Toter Link / m.welt.de  
  19. ↑ Damien Hirst donates 'Beautiful Love Survival' (accessed April 15, 2013)
  20. ↑ A Celebrities Support New Book About Indigenous Peoples (accessed April 15, 2013)
  21. ↑ Damien Hirst or “Who determines the path of money in art?” (Accessed on April 29, 2014)
personal data
SURNAME Hirst, Damien
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British artist
DATE OF BIRTH June 7, 1965
PLACE OF BIRTH Bristol