Text: Natalia Orlova-Obolenskaya THE SCANDOMELY KNOWN BRITISH ARTIST DEMIEN HURST IN THE PAST YEAR, FOR SUCH AS AND ALWAYS, HAD A GREAT MANY ART PROJECTS. What fans and opponents of the artist consistently reported his site. BUT SEVERAL EVENTS IT IS COMPLETELY CALLED TO BE CALLED SIGNS - THEY REPRESENT THE METER'S EXHIBITION AND EDUCATIONAL ACTIVITY AND ITS WORK IN THE FIELD OF FASHION.
Memento mori or fetal development in the womb
At the end of the year, in Doha’s capital, Doha, Hirst’s large-scale project “The Magic Journey” was solemnly presented - an alley of 14 impressive bronze sculptures. The sculptures were placed right in the open air in front of the entrance to the future Sidra Medical and Research Center, which, according to local authorities, will open in 2015.
Hirst art objects are designed to represent the process of fetal development of the fetus - from conception to birth. For example, the first sculpture depicts an embryo. And the final one (14 meters high) is a well-formed fortified man.
Hurst’s work was delivered to Doha within a few weeks. However, until the opening of the exhibition, no one could even guess exactly how they would look! The form and scale of the work were kept secret until the last moment. But even upon arrival in Doha, all the statues were carefully hidden from prying eyes under the dense canvas awnings, which were removed only on the day of the official opening of the alley. When the covers were dropped, most of the spectators invited to the presentation of the project barely held back their emotions - the sight was so impressive for the modest, and not too sophisticated in the author's alter ego, residents of the Middle East.
However, presenting his project to reporters, Damian Hirst emphasized that this time he was “not going to shock” at all! Simply, according to the artist, the theme of the emergence of a new life is too reverent and very relevant for the region - and he simply could not stay away: "it was necessary to come forward with an educational purpose."
Well, it is necessary, it is so necessary! And Hirst did it. In his characteristic manner and with the usual scope. However, the artist did not dissemble. This serious and state-scale project was indeed ordered to him. Back in the early 2000s, the Qatari authorities turned to Hurst with a similar proposal. The head of the Qatari Museum Management Al-Mayassa-bint-Hamad-bin-Khalifa-al-Thani is the sister of the Qatari emir and one of the most famous patrons of contemporary art in the Middle East. In 2005, she first saw Hirst's drawings with sketches of sculptures and, apparently, remained indifferent to the author's interpretation of events and phenomena.
Hurst’s works, according to The New York Times, cost approximately $ 20 million. And making sculptures weighing 216 tons took a total of three years.
By the way, in addition to the cultural program in Qatar itself, the country supports exhibition projects abroad. For example, in 2010, Qatar financed the scandalous exposition of Japanese artist Takashi Murakami in Versailles. This, as you know, caused a wave of protest, the anger of the French public and art connoisseurs. By all accounts, the overly pretentious and vibrant style of the Japanese artist’s manga-pop did not fit into the elegant interiors of the famous royal palace at all ... But Hurst would not have been Hirst if he hadn’t presented anything significant in Doha following the walk of fame! For example, his sensational retrospective "Relics"
For well-known objects of modern art, the Al Riwaq Exhibition Hall venue was located in the Museum of Islamic Art, which opened in Doha in 2008. It was here, at the request of the most dear British artist of our time, that all of his iconic objects were exhibited - from "The physical impossibility of death in the minds of the living" (stuffed large shark in formaldehyde) to "For the love of the Lord" (diamond encrusted skull).
However, neither the skull nor the shark aroused such keen interest of the Qatari public, as, for example, a bronze sculpture on the theme of the football life of another artist - Frenchman of Algerian origin Adela Abdedesseda. The five-meter-long bronze statue depicting the scandalous head-kick of the Frenchman Zinedine Zidane in the chest of the Italian Marco Materazzi was not liked by the public. In Qatar, she was considered overly aggressive and not in keeping with tradition. Due to protests by the local public, the sculpture had to be removed from the Doha embankment.
Literacy mind
As you know, Damien Hirst is unusually efficient. Especially if the project idea captivates him. And this clearly demonstrates his "For the Love of God". Therefore, almost no one was surprised by his decision to try his hand at the educational field. Perhaps only a couple of British newspapers asked a rhetorical question: they say, whom and how will he enlighten? But in the UK, Other Criteria published the Hirst alphabet - "ABC book - Damien Hirst". Damian personally drew all the illustrations for her and set the style. It turned out that this time Hirst decided to take up the education of children!
The ABC is a collection of 26 of his iconic works or fragments of Hurst's works. And the corresponding signatures invented by the artist for each drawing. As expected, signatures are also a kind of work of art. And therefore they do not correspond to the names. Just for each illustration, the author chose his own characteristic word. For example, the same work, "Physical Impossibility of Death in the Living Consciousness" (stuffed shark in formaldehyde), illustrates the letter "J". It is signed by the word "jaws" ("jaws"). And the work "Far from the herd (in section)" - sawn along the carcass of a sheep in formaldehyde - is placed on the page with the letter "L" and the word "lamb" ("lamb"). For "For the love of the Lord" (the same skull encrusted with diamonds), the letter "D" and the word "diamonds" (diamonds) were chosen!
Also, for each letter in the alphabet of Hirst, a separate font was selected. The font names are arranged strictly alphabetically. For example, the letter "A" is in the font "Albertus" and the letter "B" is in the "Baskerville" font. Commenting on the font process in an interview with The Guardian, Hurst admitted that "he has long been interested in typography and wanted to demonstrate this in a book."
By the way, according to the artist’s deep conviction, the book is intended for children. However, at what exact age they should begin to read the alphabet, Hirst did not specify. The annotation from the publisher only stipulates that the book is suitable for children not only in content, but also in the manner of presentation: "When printing the alphabet, environmentally friendly ink from soybeans was used!"
From the relict depths
Meanwhile, the creative alter ego of the star of modern art has long been cramped within the art workshop. And therefore, Hirst works a lot outside the creative laboratory ... He produces t-shirts, covers trash cans with branded prints, publishes books ...
Just the other day, Damien Hirst and the Office of the Museum of Qatar announced a competition for young artists. The results of the competition are expected to be announced on January 13, 2014. And the winner will get a free trip to London and the opportunity to work with Hirst on one of the new works of his Relics series.
Prada in the desert
Ten years after the closing of the famous British contemporary art restaurant "Pharmacy" in Notting Hill Gate, Damien Hirst, one of the leaders of the Young British Artist art group, decided to revive the Pharmacy, or, more simply, a juice bar in the Arabian desert. By the way, having joined our efforts for this with the Italian house Prada and its heads, the largest patrons of contemporary art, Miuccia Prada and Patricio Bertelli.
Based on his own installation of the same name, Damien opened the famous Pharmacy restaurant in 1998 with Prada. Again, as part of its large-scale retrospective "Relics". According to the concept, in the new incarnation, the original restaurant is a juice bar, located in a Bedouin tent with single customers in the form of two human skeletons.
Next to the bar is the Prada - Oasis boutique. Here, customers are offered a choice of twenty Entomology accessories. These are bags invented by Hurst for Prada, which are literally dotted with insects. By the way, the proceeds from the sale will go to the Department of Qatar Museums and will be donated to charity.
McQueen style experiments
“Man, you’re tyrannizing your animal again ...” The phrase from the cult Soviet cartoon “The Magic Ring” is the best epigraph to all Hearst experiments with insects. He has special feelings for the cruel, enthusiastically exploring the metamorphoses that occur with them. Tough and focused. With the meticulousness of an entomologist, he studies the properties and characteristics of beetles, flies, butterflies, and their practical significance for humans ... At the exhibition in the Tate Modern gallery in London, he presented the installation "In and Out of Love" - the life of butterflies in nature. In a windowless space with flowers, fruits and water, butterflies flew everywhere. Some sat on the audience, others were pinned to the canvas. Hurst stated that the installation "raises the themes of life and death, beauty and horror." For 23 weeks of the exhibition, he destroyed about 9 thousand butterflies. The People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals (PETA) organization called it "callous and heartless." In response, Hurst presented a fashion project with Alexander McQueen - he summed up the experiment in silk-screen printing.
FOR THE LOVE OF THE LORD
For the Love of God or “Damien Hirst's Diamond Skull” is a human skull made of platinum and encrusted with diamonds. He is recognized as the most expensive work of art by living artists.
According to Hirst, the name of the art object was inspired by his mother’s words when she turned to him with the words: “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?” ("Tell me, for God's sake, what will you do next?"). "For the love of God" is a quotation from the First Epistle of John: “For this is love for God” (1 John 5: 3).
The skull is made of platinum, like a slightly reduced copy of the skull of a 35-year-old European who lived between 1720 and 1810. Its entire surface, with the exception of the original teeth, is completely covered with 8 601 diamonds with a total weight of 1106.18 carats. In the center of the forehead is the main element of the composition - a pink pear-shaped diamond. The work cost Hurst £ 14 million.
This skull was first presented to the public in June 2007 at the London White Cube Gallery. A year later, he was already exhibited at the Amsterdam State Museum. In 2007, for investment purposes, the consortium, which includes Hirst himself, his manager - Frank Dunphy, the head of the White Cube gallery and the famous Ukrainian philanthropist Victor Pinchuk, acquired a skull for 50 million pounds ($ 100 million).
HIRST CHALLENGE
The Damien Hirst Challenge, according to Art Guide, also takes place at the Relics exhibition. According to the conditions, the participants must send to the contest website their own original work, made based on any work by Hirst. Paintings and sculptures and multimedia projects are allowed to participate. The only limitation of the competition is the presence of the artist of Qatari citizenship. Since it is Qatar, according to the artist, that remains the largest collector of contemporary art in the Middle East in the Middle East. The Hirst Challenge is not the first art competition featuring Hirst. In 2012, as part of his large-scale exhibition, in 11 galleries "Gagosian Gallery" a world competition of young artists was already held, according to which the participants were supposed to visit the exhibition in all branches of the gallery.
