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New Media Representations: Damien HirstDamien Hirst

“The horrible things in life make the beautiful things possible and more beautiful.”

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Enduring Understanding

Students will understand that…the use of ready-mades and other media have created new approaches to art and expanded its definition.

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Overarching1) How did technological advances affect

art?2) What are the issues and concerns

surrounding new media and its representational mechanisms?

Topical

1) What is life and death?

2) How can “Momento Mori” be portrayed in an artwork?

Essential Questions

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5W1H How

PaintingsSculptures

Ready-mades

WhyBackground

BeliefsWhat

Death & Life

WhichYoung British Artists

Conceptual Art

WhereEngland

When1965 -

DamienHirst

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Bio-Data

1965: Born in Bristol, England. Took a foundation course at Leeds School of Art and Design before applying for college.

1986-89: Studied Fine Arts in Goldsmiths, University of London.

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Mid 1960s-70s Conceptual ArtMid 1960s-70s Minimalism1960s Fluxus1992 Saatchi Gallery

featuring the Young British Artists

When

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Britain Charles Saatchi

Advertising magnate of Saatchi and Saatchi.He and his brother formed another agency after being ousted from the first, called M&C Saatchi.An ardent art collector and owner of Saatchi Gallery.Sponsors the YBA.

Where

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Spot Painting

Controlled Substances Key Painting 3” Spot, 1994Household gloss on canvas, 92 x 92 cm

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Spin Painting

Beautiful I’ve Been Spirited Away Painting, 2005Household gloss on canvas, 61 x 91.4 cm

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Spot Paintings Randomly organized. They are coloured spotted canvases. Named after pharmaceutical chemicals.Spin Paintings Painted on a spinning table. The work is created through a centrifugal

force.

His Paintings

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A cow’s head Flies emerged from maggots. The flies feed on the carcass. They get zapped by the insect-o-cutor. It is a presentation of life and death.

What

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A Thousand Years,1990Steel, glass, flies, maggots, MDF, insect-o-cutor, cow's head, sugar, water

213 x 427 x 213 cmCharles Saatchi

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Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purpose of Understanding, 1991MDF, melamine, wood, steel, glass, perspex cases (39), fish (39) and 5% formaldehyde

solution, 182.9 x 274.3 x 25.4 cm

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A cabinet of fish species. Each fish is suspended in formaldehyde. It worked somewhat like his spot paintings-

an arrangement of colour, shape and form. The work came to be seen as advanced

art- People become fascinated with how ordinary things of the world can be arranged to be viewed as beautiful.

What

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The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991.Glass, steel, silicone, shark and 5% formaldehyde solution

213.4 x 640.1 x 213.4 cm Saatchi Collection, London

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What

A tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a vitrine.

A vitrine is a glass case for displaying delicate or valuable objects.

The shark was caught by a commissioned fisherman.

It was caught in Australia

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Untitled, 1992.Drug bottles in cabinet, 61 x 101.6 x 22.9 cm

White Cube

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Pharmacy, 1992.Installation

Cohen gallery, New York

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What A site-specific installation, He used glass fronted cabinets usually found in

labaratory or hospital. The cabinets are stacked with pharmaceutical

drugs and other objects. The drugs on the shelves are arranged to model

the body- medicines from the top shelves are for the head, the middle shelves for the stomach and those at the bottom for the legs and feet.

A system that represents itself, possibly, a belief in structuring or redeeming life.

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Mother and Child Divided, 1993.Steel, GRP composites, glass, silicone sealants, cow, calf, formaldehyde solution

Astrup Fearnley Museum, Oslo

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Mother and Child Divided

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Away from the Flock, 1994Steel, glass, lamb, formaldehyde solution, 96 x 149 x 51 cm

Charles Saatchi

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For the Love of God , 2007.Platinum and 8601 diamonds

White Cube Gallery

A “Momento Mori” piece.

What is the irony?

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Young British Artists Also known as Brit artists and Britart. A group of conceptual artists based in UK. Most attended Goldsmiths College in

London. It derived from the show at Satchi Gallery in

1992 known as Young British Artists. They are noted for their “shock tactics”,

using throwaway materials and wild-life.

Which

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Which

Conceptual Art An art form where the idea and concept comes before the

artwork.Minimalism Art forms are stripped down to their most fundamental

features. As a movement in the arts, it is usually identified with the

developments in post-war (WWII) from the mid 1960s to the 70s.

An example would be the minimalist approach of his vitrine. He has said; “What I really like is minimum effort for

maximum effect.”

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Subject Matter Animals- the fragility of biological existence. Vitrines- function as both windows and barriers. Medicine and drugs- an ineffectual alternative to death,

somewhat delusional in the part of mankind.Theme The processes of life and death. The inevitability of death- in your face! (The fact that we

are all mortals). Uncertainties in human experience- death, life, love,

betrayal and loyalty.

What

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Background Hirst was wild and rebellious as a young adult- admitted

to drug and alcohol abuse but managed to quit them later in life, paying the price of an estranged relationship with his wife.

Hirst worked in a mortuary when he was a student in Goldsmith. It could have been an influence to his theme of death.

When his good friend Joe Strummer (former lead singer of The Clash) died of a heart attack, the incident left Hirst saying “It was the first time I felt mortal.”

Why

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Why

Influence by Francis Bacon British artist (1909-1992) Bacon’s treatment of space- claustrophobic and cubical

frame that encases a nightmarish and horrendous focus.

For titles, please refer to PowerPoint slides on Bacon

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Influence by Jeff Koons American artist born in 1955. Koons like to suspend things in tanks and

encasing them.

Why

Three Ball 50/50 Tank , 1955.by Jeff Koons

Glass, painted steel, distilled water, plastic, and three basketballs,

154 x 123.9 x 33.6 cm

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Intention To make people frightened of what they already know and

question “Momento Mori” (also see next slide).

A Latin phrase translated-“Remember that you are mortal”“Remember you will die”“Remember that you must die”.It names a genre of artistic creation as in Hirst’s works with the purpose of reminding us of our own mortality.

Why

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Triptych of Earthly Vanity and Divine Salvation , c. 1485.by Hans Memling.

Oil on oak panel, 22 x 15 cm for each.Musée des Beaux-Arts, Strasbourg.

Momento Mori

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He does… Paintings

Eg: The spot and spin paintings. Cabinet Sculptures And the glass tank works. He uses assistants, one of the first is Carl Freedman,

who helped in the first vitrines. The volume of work now necessitates a “factory set-

up” like that of Warhol’s.

How

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Materials Animals- animals he uses are purchased from

slaughterhouses, and many have died of natural causes.

Vitrine- minimalist and geometric, easy to contain and objectify his subject matter.

Formaldehyde- as a preservative. Everyday objects- table and chair seen in The

Acquired Inability to Escape.

How

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Damien Hirst Word Bank

Conceptual art FormaldehydeMinimalistic Dead animalsShocking Momento moriControversial Site-specific installationLife & Death Read-madesVitrinesMedicalPharmacuticals

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References

http://www.whitecube.com/artists/hirst/