I'm going to admit that I didn't really know much about Hirst, I knew what most knew 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991, in which he suspended a shark in formaldehyde' but that was pretty much it.
The reason for this blog post was that I watched the Damien Hirst Retrospective on Channel 4 a few weeks back. Hirst is showing his early to recent work at the Tate Modern and I assume made the programme to drum up some interest. I certainly think it succeeded, I was tweeting all the way through and found that it was actually trending. Admittedly opinion was very much divided, I don't think that Hirst will ever shake the connotation of being 'death obsessed' which I find a shame. I personally find his work more about life and appreciating life. the formaldehyde shark shows this by showing how great the creature is, and lets face it not many people get to see a shark so close, I find it an interesting concept.
Another few pieces of his work caught my attention, one which I believe is called 'In and out of love' included a room full of butterflies landing on blank canvases, showing that they are works of art in themselves, the butterflies feasted on sugar water causing them to literally be drunk, which I found an interesting concept. The next room had blank canvas' with preserved butterflies fixed to them which I thought proved quite an interesting point that the butterflies are still beautiful when dead. Although this piece does include some death I feel that it is more reachable for those maybe a bit fixed minded about Hirsts' work.
The retrospective was shown on channel 4 so is probably available on 4OD. Give it a watch, Open your mind and interpret away!
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