I finished a new oil painting over last week.
Showing posts with label damien hirst. Show all posts
Showing posts with label damien hirst. Show all posts
Saturday, February 13, 2010
Tuesday, May 26, 2009
Satire break
An art gallery press release that references the go go times of hedge fund managers buying up meaningless Jeff Koons to the current art market pessimism that hangs over Chelsea like a dark ominous cloud...
Art-Pocalypto 2012April 10 - May 23, 2012Opening Reception: Friday, April 10, 6-8pmSchroRoWinkleFeuerBooneWildenRosenGosian Gallery is pleased to present “Art-Pocalypto 2012,” organized by guest curators Jennifer Dalton and William Powhida. This exhibition will be on view from April 10 – May 23, 2012. Since the gallery is one of the only outlets for contemporary art related products remaining in New York’s fabled Chelsea art district, we will be exhibiting artworks by whoever we want.As everyone knows by now, artists have not been able to produce any new art since the crash of 2009 due to shortages of art supplies as well as basic necessities. Dalton and Powhida will therefore be exhibiting 8" × 10" printouts of our very large stable of artists' pre-crash greatest hits which will be laminated on-demand. Make our day and ask if they are archival, that word helps us remember what used to pass for problems back in the day.This exhibition is organized around the theme of, fuck everyone, we are still here! Conceptual consistency - can you eat that? Can you shit in it and flush it down and make it go away? Can it keep the rain off you when you are sleeping? We didn't think so! So come on over and see how thin everyone's gotten!Prints will be on sale for the low price of $500,000*. If we are lucky and supplies are available, we hope to be able to print in color. However, if we run out of fuel for the generator, the co-curators will make themselves available on selected Saturday hours to copy images by hand. Since child labor was decriminalized last year, we might even have the kids help out! You'd be surprised what they'll do for a cracker. Actually, by now you probably wouldn't.And save the date! SchroRoWinkleFeuerBooneWilden - RosenGosian Gallery will be exhibiting at ArtBaselMiamiDocumentaSiteSantaFeWhitneyBiennale - VeneziaNadaPulseScope this December. Don't believe the Mayan hype, civilization will go on - it better, we just paid our booth deposit!Contact: SchroRoWinkleFeuerBooneWildenRosenGosian GalleryPhone 212.630.0722*This is $20 in Spring 2009 dollars.
The Virgin Mother by Damien Hirst inside the Lever House, 390 Park Avenue (E54th St), in midtown Manhattan. Image from here.
Friday, February 13, 2009
Appropriation in the arts - the adventure continues
From here: Damien Hirst's work has been being 'ripped off' by a group of artists who want to make a point about the multimillionaire's stringent use of copyright law. Their action follows Hirst's decision to threaten to sue a 16-year-old designer who used an image of the skull in a collage to sell on the internet.
'For the Love of Disruptive Strategies and Utopian Visions in Contemporary Art and Culture No.2'. An exact copy of Cartrain's collage, painstakingly recreated and improved by James Cauty from random pixels found on the interweb. 30.5cm x 42cm giclee (inkjet) print on enhanced matt art paper. Numbered Edition of 13. Signed with a very poor imitation of Cartrain's signature in silver ink on the front and by the real artist on the back. To see all of the works offered for sale go here.Also of note is the recent news of Shepard Fairey, a street artist famous for his red, white and blue "Hope" posters of President Obama being arrested last week on warrants accusing him of tagging property with graffiti.
A lot of my works involve appropriation from existing photographs to create paintings. It is interesting to see how the case against Shepard Fairey and the action taken by the artists against Damien Hirst will unravel.
The essay "The ecstasy of influence: A plagiarism" by Jonathan Lethem is a classic in this realm as are works by Joy Garnett.
More on appropriation in the arts in this blog can be found here and here.
Monday, October 20, 2008
Investment Banker in an organic compound
After sharks in formaldehyde, it is indeed fitting that 'artist' Damien Hirst has decided to put an investment banker in this embalming fluid... It sold for an investment bank type sum too (nearly $4 billion). For some reason I don't believe that, but that is what the internets say...
Among the other creatures that fall into the same league that he could throw into formaldehyde and make his zillions include hyenas and vultures.
The banker happens to be from Merrill - not too sure why this company was the 'chosen' one. After closely studying the price for which this was sold for, I think Sec. Paulson might consider recruiting Mr Hirst into the investment bank bailout team. He seems to have the ability to easily muster ungodly amounts of cash by artfully distorting ninth grade science experiments/exhibits... We need the money - you know...
UPDATE: The Hirst investment banker thing looks like a spoof - like I said above, I did not believe the price, though formaldehyde might be a good medium to put most of the bankers in...
Among the other creatures that fall into the same league that he could throw into formaldehyde and make his zillions include hyenas and vultures.
The banker happens to be from Merrill - not too sure why this company was the 'chosen' one. After closely studying the price for which this was sold for, I think Sec. Paulson might consider recruiting Mr Hirst into the investment bank bailout team. He seems to have the ability to easily muster ungodly amounts of cash by artfully distorting ninth grade science experiments/exhibits... We need the money - you know...
UPDATE: The Hirst investment banker thing looks like a spoof - like I said above, I did not believe the price, though formaldehyde might be a good medium to put most of the bankers in...
Tuesday, September 16, 2008
On a recent garage art sale - II
From the description of items offered up at a recent auction, one might think that the items being hawked were the leftovers of a science experiment gone horribly wrong.
For sale were variations on all of his best-known themes: dead animals, including several sharks, a calf, a zebra and doves, all submerged in formaldehyde; glass cabinets filled with diamonds, cigarette butts and practically everything in between; and paintings and drawings with his signature skulls and dots, swirls and butterflies.
No, it was not a garage sale of the remnants of a science experiment; it was Damien Hirst's first solo auction (yes, first solo show is 'out', solo auctions are 'in'). A new precedent was set where he bypassed dealers, gallerists and other middlemen to sell his works. In spite of the Lehman's and Merrill’s going down, investors seem to think that art is still a good bet (I am not complaining – but this kind of art - I do not know?). He seems to have made good on the first day of auction of the motley items on sale and the day netted over a $100 million.
The questions I raised regarding the new avenue explored by him still remain.
Here is a description of a couple of works that did not sell...
- 'Devil Worshiper': A canvas with dead flies.
- 'Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, Justice': Four dead bullsharks floating in two tanks.
For sale were variations on all of his best-known themes: dead animals, including several sharks, a calf, a zebra and doves, all submerged in formaldehyde; glass cabinets filled with diamonds, cigarette butts and practically everything in between; and paintings and drawings with his signature skulls and dots, swirls and butterflies.
No, it was not a garage sale of the remnants of a science experiment; it was Damien Hirst's first solo auction (yes, first solo show is 'out', solo auctions are 'in'). A new precedent was set where he bypassed dealers, gallerists and other middlemen to sell his works. In spite of the Lehman's and Merrill’s going down, investors seem to think that art is still a good bet (I am not complaining – but this kind of art - I do not know?). He seems to have made good on the first day of auction of the motley items on sale and the day netted over a $100 million.
The questions I raised regarding the new avenue explored by him still remain.
Here is a description of a couple of works that did not sell...
- 'Devil Worshiper': A canvas with dead flies.
- 'Theology, Philosophy, Medicine, Justice': Four dead bullsharks floating in two tanks.
Saturday, September 13, 2008
On a recent garage art sale
Damien Hirst's work is on sale at Sotheby's on Monday and Tuesday of next week (euphemistically called formaldehyde sculptures). He is offering his pieces for sale directly, not through a dealer, not through a gallery - (not that there is anything wrong in this approach) - just that what he is hawking might be suspect...
Here is Guardian's take on the garage sale... Edward Winkleman is also surprised...
If there is anything special about this event, it lies in the extreme disproportion between Hirst's expected prices and his actual talent. Hirst is basically a pirate, and his skill is shown by the way in which he has managed to bluff so many art-related people, from museum personnel such as Tate's Nicholas Serota to billionaires in the New York real-estate trade, into giving credence to his originality and the importance of his "ideas". This skill at manipulation is his real success as an artist. He has manoeuvred himself into the sweet spot where wannabe collectors, no matter how dumb (indeed, the dumber the better), feel somehow ignorable without a Hirst or two.
Living sharks are among the most beautiful creatures in the world, but the idea that the American hedge fund broker Steve Cohen, out of a hypnotised form of culture-snobbery, would pay an alleged $12m for a third of a tonne of shark, far gone in decay, is so risible that it beggars the imagination. As for the implied danger, it is worth remembering that the number of people recorded as killed by sharks worldwide in 2007 was exactly one. By comparison, a housefly is a ravening murderous beast. Maybe Hirst should pickle one, and throw in a magnifying glass or two.
Hirsts' move does raise some interesting points:
- Does this mean that the gallery based representation of works is on the wane and slowly artists are going to flock to the auction based marketplace however small (eBay type gig) or large (Sotheby's)?
- Does this mean that once an artist gains recognition and acclaim, it does not make sense to have a gallerist trying to promote and sell works - rather it makes better sense to get the free market enterprise (which the auction based marketplace represents) offer artists the highest monies for the work without the middleman gallery owner pocketing a percentage?
- Some galleries start with soul and a vision - moves like this will tend to remove the soul associated with the exhibition of works in a public place. Not to mention that works sold through the auction based marketplace system will never see the light of day - it will go into the rich buyers storage unit immediately after the purchase...
Here is Guardian's take on the garage sale... Edward Winkleman is also surprised...
If there is anything special about this event, it lies in the extreme disproportion between Hirst's expected prices and his actual talent. Hirst is basically a pirate, and his skill is shown by the way in which he has managed to bluff so many art-related people, from museum personnel such as Tate's Nicholas Serota to billionaires in the New York real-estate trade, into giving credence to his originality and the importance of his "ideas". This skill at manipulation is his real success as an artist. He has manoeuvred himself into the sweet spot where wannabe collectors, no matter how dumb (indeed, the dumber the better), feel somehow ignorable without a Hirst or two.
Living sharks are among the most beautiful creatures in the world, but the idea that the American hedge fund broker Steve Cohen, out of a hypnotised form of culture-snobbery, would pay an alleged $12m for a third of a tonne of shark, far gone in decay, is so risible that it beggars the imagination. As for the implied danger, it is worth remembering that the number of people recorded as killed by sharks worldwide in 2007 was exactly one. By comparison, a housefly is a ravening murderous beast. Maybe Hirst should pickle one, and throw in a magnifying glass or two.
Hirsts' move does raise some interesting points:
- Does this mean that the gallery based representation of works is on the wane and slowly artists are going to flock to the auction based marketplace however small (eBay type gig) or large (Sotheby's)?
- Does this mean that once an artist gains recognition and acclaim, it does not make sense to have a gallerist trying to promote and sell works - rather it makes better sense to get the free market enterprise (which the auction based marketplace represents) offer artists the highest monies for the work without the middleman gallery owner pocketing a percentage?
- Some galleries start with soul and a vision - moves like this will tend to remove the soul associated with the exhibition of works in a public place. Not to mention that works sold through the auction based marketplace system will never see the light of day - it will go into the rich buyers storage unit immediately after the purchase...
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