Damien Hirst- The Retrospective

Billed as the summer blockbuster for this year i was both excited and a little apprehensive upon arrival, it would have been worse were it not for the fact i skipped the queue with my Tate membership card; however, I was knocked back at how well the Tate had dealt with this show. Work ranging from throughout his career, starting at work as he left Goldsmiths in the late 80s and moving on through to the present day. Unlike the Kusama show there were several real center pieces for the show, in fact you could almost say it about all the pieces and each of them has had either their own piece of controversy or large media coverage. 

If you enter from the West entrance as I do usually you are greeted by two things, one, a very large queue (so either book in advance for a much smaller line or get a membership) and two, the ever present amazing turbine hall, which you might have thought to be filled with perhaps work such as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991, but no instead at the very bottom end of the hall there is a black box. Before you start queueing at the rear of the box you walk pas this image,

Now for many of you this will conjure up a familiar image such as the one on my previous blog post; however, upon entry and seeing it, For the Love of God 2007, in real life, it is instantly something special. What hit me most was the scale of it, in most images it looks huge, but in reality a human head isn't actually that large. The jewel on the forehead and the way it is presented in a dark room with spot lights makes it feel extraterrestrial, alien, the jewel an all seeing third eye, the eye of god perhaps. It is a little unnerving especially in the environment that you see it, a small group with security, not invigilators, watching and monitoring you in a room filled with the sparkle off the piece. 

If we move now to the main body of the work upstairs on level 3, it would take an age to go through each piece, all works that have been analysed time after time. Anyone who knows any of Hirst's work will understand the underlying theme of death throughout, and the almost contradictory nature of the way as questions are asked they are almost instantly denied by the work. The butterfly plays wonderfully with these themes the butterflies are simultaneously hatching from the lava on the canvases as other expire or live out their lives through this room that we as viewers can walk through. One is not allowed to take pictures throughout the show; however, I took a few snaps just to give you guys a quick preview. 

Another interesting part to the exhibition is the exit to the shop where there are many of Hirst's works for sale, smaller prints and editions all at more affordable (but still out of most of our price range) prices. It says two things to me first is that maybe there is a lot of truth in the rumors surrounding the value of his work and two, perhaps he wants a wider audience to his work, giving us all a chance to own a bit of art?

In Short:- 5/5 Great retrospective showing some of the most important pieces of art over the past 25 years.

Damien Hirst...again

Ok well this time its a pre-exhibition jitters type post, I've booked the ticket with my Tate Membership for 1300 tomorrow at Tate Modern, and I am genuinely excited. I'm 22 years old and have only seen a relatively small amount of works of good old Damien. I saw the Lets Eat Outdoors Today at last years RA show and was a big fan, and a few prints etc. at various art fairs; however, I have never fully experienced some of the major works in the flesh. Far too many people knock him and his works to quickly in my view especially when i think of some of the people who have in a similar situation to me, i.e. young and not really seen many of the works face to face.

 I consider Benjamin's idea of the aura when i look at many of Hirst's pieces today as i think of how many times i have seen for example For the Love of God in various magazines and on the internet. The autonomy of the work grows and the situational experience of the work is lost, having never seen this piece behind a glass box in gallery I cannot truly imagine how I might interpret the work.

So all I can really say at this point is that i am really looking forward to seeing some of the most controversial works of all time, especially if we reconfigure some of the works under the current financial climate, in gallery for the first time, rather than sat here in this chair staring at a screen...wish me luck...

The Inception of Line- Coldharbour Studios

Coldharbour Studios is an innovative space in south London which works not only as a gallery but also houses many artists in the studios above. The latest show The Inception of Line shows creative and effective curating from Arethra Campbell, with Kate Terry's site specific thread installations cutting and reworking the architecture of the white cube space, bringing a new perspective to the work on the walls, the pieces of Keke Vilabelda.

The press release says "The work of art exists within a trajectory or line, marking a point of communication between viewer and work that refuses to repeat itself. Both Vilabelda and Terry's practices highlight this line, never reaching a point of stasis; rather they are constantly re-aligned and re-configured within the spaces they temporarily inhabit." and i would be inclined to agree. 

The show physically impacts you as well as visually as one has to rethink the space constantly looking out for Terry's work which slices through your path at unexpected moments. Vilabelda's paintings, if you will, have a certain eeriness to them as dreamlike landscapes and structures are intersected by this imaginary frames and formulations.

You will be able to see the green thread of Terry's installation if you look closely

In Short:- 5/5 Great young space with loads of potential with a great team behind it. 

Design Awards- Design Museum

Having never been inside the Design Museum I was unsure what to expect when I entered, and to my amusement the queuing system is hilariously badly designed as the entrance hall is so small that you have to end up queuing out side with automatic doors opening and closing every few seconds; however, despite this initial hiccup I was encouraged by the set up of the design awards, as no piece seemed to have a favoured space over another. 

There were some interesting choices with a wide variety of different fields covered, this ranging from Viviene Westwood handbags to new emergency ambulance layouts. The latter being my personal favourite, one that I perceive to make the biggest potential difference in making peoples lives better.

There is a keen interest in the world around us, and we eagerly await the announcement of the winners in April.

In Short:- 4/5 A well organised space and a nice range of designs to see.

Yayoi Kusama- Tate Modern

Kusama's retrospective at Tate Modern is surprisingly large exhibition, showing a range of works from the 1950s through to today. While much of the work is very entertaining to view, there becomes a problem when Tate relies to heavily on trying to spell things out for people. We had discussed this need of the Tate's before in making the work accessible to all; however, again we feel that there is a pre-scripted way of viewing some of the work. 

The set up allows us to look at the exhibition much like that of Yoko Ono, and i feel that is an injustice to the work and the artist, this cheapens its value. Some of the best work is the work least laboured with the Tate's authority over the art, such as the spot work of obliteration and the infinity room. 

The aformentioned infinity rtoom was a room that needed time and energy to consider despite its instant impact that even to the non art lovers out there can appreciate. This is only slightly spoiled by the way that you are forced to walk through the room at considerable pace shortening the experience. 

In Short:- 3/5 Defiantly worth seeing, but don't expect anything new from the tried and tested Tate formula for retrospectives. 

Paul McCarthy- Hauser & Wirth

The King, The Island, The Train, The House, The Ship, always vulgar, always crude always unforgettable. Yes McCarthy's show at Hauser and Wirth, again despite it closing in the near future (14th January) is definitely worth a look in if you can manage. 

Pig Island is a project which has spawned and grown from the characters of George Bush and Angelina Jolie developing into grotesque machines. The simultaneous movement of them with the whiring noises of the pigs,  have the eyes following you around the room, the uncomfortable or displeasurable feeling sits with you as you go through the exhibition with a underlying sense of humor about it as well. 

But with this showing of admiration for McCarthy he mocks us. The King, a silicone copy of McCarthy himself sits upon a throne at an elevated status, as we sit in church pews following him like a priest or even a god/king. 

In all definitely get down to the show if you can at both the Picadilly and Saville Row branches of Hauser & Wirth.

Wendell Castle- Best Leg Forward

There are only 3days left of this great show as it ends on the 7th, but i liked it so much that i thought i had to tell you all about it. While it may be in the modest Albermarle Street Carpenters Workshop gallery, the work seems to say something bigger and work in a far larger way than the physical appearance of the gallery suggests. The work flows from the sketches they are based upon, working not from computer aided design but instead from the hand and mind of the artist; however, an interesting thing that Castle notes is that each piece is also sculpted by the grain and feel of the wood, the work itself presenting a resistance. The work is constructed from stack-laminated wood, which is literally inch-thick stacks of wood sculpted into these explorations of volume and shape. 

This stacking technique seems to immortalize the works for me, the banding effect created representing the rings a tree, but with these the flexibility of the materials and this technique allow the work to go on and grow. Each piece has its own character and feel, every curve telling a different story evoking different thoughts.