Making Bad Art and Getting Away With it - Damien Hirst

Photo: Oli Scarff Getty Images

Written by Hatty Nestor

The discussion and criticism Damien Hirst has generated, whether you like his work or not, cannot be ignored. His ironic statements and dismal pieces have attracted collectors and dealers for years. Some may argue he is even morally vacuous within the auctioning house. His current retrospective at the Tate doesn’t disappoint in the variety of reviews from critics across the broad. Many of these critics have looked unfavourably upon it, or upon Hirst and the agenda he promotes to the public. The philosophical eccentricities of his pieces cannot be denied, but the extravagance of his work and the money behind it is a factor I always find incomprehensible. I’m always seeking new ways of finding integrity within his work, but so far I’ve had no luck.

Photo: Oli ScarffGetty Images

Photo: Oli ScarffGetty Images

For me, whenever Hirst is mentioned or I am exposed to his work, I often find myself puzzled and intrigued by the philosophical metaphors and overwhelming statements his work presents to the viewer. To make particular claims or assumptions about Hirst’s work would only be ignorant, I would only be contributing to the long list of other criticisms and analysiations thrust upon his work. I say this because there is nothing difficult about understanding the meaning of the work; there are no subtle undercurrents, in fact, all his undercurrents are on top of the bun with icing.

Often the narratives and ideas displayed to the viewer are distinctly primitive. Dying, death, death, death, yes we know your death-obsessed, Damien. It seems to me what draws people to Hirst’s work is the role he plays in the art market, the extortionate prices his work sells for, and the influence it has had in contemporary art today considering his openness about the lack of physical involvement he has contributed to his work. Not forgetting his famous statement in the nineties, shortly after his group exhibition show in Bermondsey and the collaboration of the YBAs, ‘I can’t wait to be in a position to make bad art and get away with it.’ Of course he enjoys a good joke with us, but it’s hard to differentiate whether his success is a product of his public self-righteousness, luck, talent or hard work.

Photo: metro.co.uk

Photo: metro.co.uk

His current retrospective at the Tate demonstrates the versatility of his work. This exhibition draws attention to specific moments within Hirst’s career over the last twenty years, a retrospective including pieces from his Natural History series, such as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991. The exhibition attracts many visitors for Hirst’s internationally famouly piece For the Love of God 2007. The Sunday times quoted the exhibition to be, ‘The most gorgeous visceral experience available to diamond junkies’.

Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd via Getty Images

This curiosity of Hirst’s persona becomes explanatory in a comic strip from the magazine Viz, where two art critics comment on particular moments throughout the career of Danny Tyke (Damien Hirst).

Copyright John Fardell, Viz, 2010

The strip displays to the viewer discussions and counter arguments about Hirst’s work and career, later on we see a reference to Hirst’s Spin paintings (which are on displays in room 8 at the retrospective). What’s interesting about this strip is it plays and comments on Hirst’s lack of participation in the making of his work. It seems to be becoming more apparent that in modern contemporary art the emphasis of an artist's success relies on conceptual enterprise and the revelation of ideas - what ever happened to observational drawers?

A genius driven by an entrepreneurial streak, Hirst has benefited from a fair amount of luck throughout his career. Saatchi’s initial leg up of the £111m Sotheby’s sale, days before the 2008 recession only highlighted Hirst’s wealth and extravagance. Perhaps his luck is a product of his ‘hard work’ but he heads and art and business empire which dominates the contemporary art scene. He isn’t afraid to rub it in the face of doubting critics either, demonstrated most visually in his skull For the Love of God 2007 decorated with thousands of diamonds.

 Photo from dylanspicer.com

What I’m trying to get at is this paradox we are presented with from Hirst. On the one hand, his work often deals with close to home subjects, such as A Thousand Years 1990 depicting a cows head, decaying with flies and maggots, playing with the process of nature and death. But in contrary his ethics and attitude towards the creative attributes of his work don’t quite follow the same ethos. Whether this makes him an intriguing public figure, an irritating creative, or a genius, Hirst is obviously doing something right, making blockbuster art works and generating an ongoing enquiry surrounding his work, himself, and contemporary art today. The idea and discussion of authorship is demonstrated clearly with Hirst, and when viewing his work, I can’t help but remember this persona we are presented with of him. Whether this is the fabrication of the media, or a true representation of Hirst’s personality, it puts an interesting perspective on his work.

Photo: Oli ScarffGetty Images

Photo: Nils Jorgensen / Rex Features

For the information on his current retrospective at the Tate click here.