Is Damien Hirst over-rated, an emperor in new clothes, or is he is genius of our current generation? I am really not sure, I can see something of a genius and maverick in the amazing diversity of his work. I was a bit ambivalent about seeing this exhibition, more like a current retrospective, at
Tate Modern. I have seen a lot of the individual pieces at exhibitions across Europe and was uncertain as to whether seeing more together would necessarily be better!
So I put my concerns to one side, set up myself for the audio guide and worked my way through the rather large and interactive exhibition. There were people and families everywhere - in the first room a group of impulsive children had knocked the ping pong ball off the airstream of the cold hairdryer and the room attendant was understandably stressed when the parents seemed totally unconcerned!
I then watched a toddler realise he was looking at a shark and become really upset - no parent was around to help him out!
For the first few dot paintings I was quite interested in checking out my visual capability of distinguishing different tones of the same colour; some of those purple
and orange dots looked very similar to me! Later, as the dots became smaller and the number of dot paintings increased, I lost interest... And then I was impressed when I realised the similarities between his dots and his pharmacy cabinets and even his tablet displays. Apparently he was shocked at how much faith people put into drugs and medication, at the expense of art and creativity...
I was impressed at his butterflies - the contrast between a room of carefully protected live animals with a room of dead wings arranged to resemble stained glass!!
And I was impressed at his animals in formaldehyde and their catchy names - like mother and son divided - both animals were divided as well! But I did think the last 2 rooms were such strong statements; full wall cabinets of hand made diamonds, as evidence of over the top opulence on the one hand and a perfect dove in flight in light blue formaldehyde, signifying some perfect catholic peace...
His ideas may well be impressive, but he cannot possibly do it all by himself, yet he can receive all the accolades for his own ideas and work?!?
Is Damien Hirst over-rated, an emperor in new clothes, or is he is genius of our current generation? I am really not sure, I can see something of a genius and maverick in the amazing diversity of his work. I was a bit ambivalent about seeing this exhibition, more like a current retrospective, at Tate Modern. I have seen a lot of the individual pieces at exhibitions across Europe and was uncertain as to whether seeing more together would necessarily be better!
So I put my concerns to one side, set up myself for the audio guide and worked my way through the rather large and interactive exhibition. There were people and families everywhere - in the first room a group of impulsive children had knocked the ping pong ball off the airstream of the cold hairdryer and the room attendant was understandably stressed when the parents seemed totally unconcerned!
I then watched a toddler realise he was looking at a shark and become really upset - no parent was around to help him out!
For the first few dot paintings I was quite interested in checking out my visual capability of distinguishing different tones of the same colour; some of those purple
and orange dots looked very similar to me! Later, as the dots became smaller and the number of dot paintings increased, I lost interest... And then I was impressed when I realised the similarities between his dots and his pharmacy cabinets and even his tablet displays. Apparently he was shocked at how much faith people put into drugs and medication, at the expense of art and creativity...
I was impressed at his butterflies - the contrast between a room of carefully protected live animals with a room of dead wings arranged to resemble stained glass!!
And I was impressed at his animals in formaldehyde and their catchy names - like mother and son divided - both animals were divided as well! But I did think the last 2 rooms were such strong statements; full wall cabinets of hand made diamonds, as evidence of over the top opulence on the one hand and a perfect dove in flight in light blue formaldehyde, signifying some perfect catholic peace...
His ideas may well be impressive, but he cannot possibly do it all by himself, yet he can receive all the accolades for his own ideas and work?!?
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