Damien Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 when he conceived and curated Freeze,
an exhibition in a disused warehouse which showed his work and that of
his friends and fellow students at Goldsmiths College. In the nearly
quarter of a century since that pivotal show, Hirst has become one of
the most influential artists of his generation.
This is the first substantial survey of his work in a British
institution and brings together key works from over twenty years. The
exhibition includes iconic sculptures from his Natural History series, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991, in which he suspended a shark in formaldehyde. Also included are vitrines such as A Thousand Years
from 1990, medicine cabinets, pill cabinets and instrument cabinets in
addition to seminal paintings made throughout his career using
butterflies and flies as well as spots and spins. The two-part
installation In and Out of Love, not shown in its entirety since its creation in 1991 and Pharmacy 1992 are among the highlights of the exhibition.
For the Love of God
The most gorgeous visceral experience available to diamond junkies
Sunday Times
To complement the exhibition, Damien Hirst’s diamond-covered skull, For the Love of God 2007, was on show in a purpose-built room in the Turbine Hall. This display has now ended.
Reviews
A brilliant Tate show ★★★★
Sunday TimesBeautifully installed
Financial Times
http://www.tate.org.uk/whats-on/tate-modern/exhibition/damien-hirst
Bloody Cow head in room of flies. You could actually smell it if you was close enough.
Preserved Shark. Depending on what angle you view this piece the shark looks alive and about to pounce if you stand right in front of it. It almost allows the viewer to experience what it would be like to be so close to such a dangerous animal.
I found this piece more biologically informative than an art piece, as I felt that it was more of a luxury version of a anatomical model cow.
This room was beautiful even for someone like me that hates all insects, but for the short amount of time that I spent in there I was actually intrigued with the life cycle of the butterflies and how they were coming out of the canvases like a living painting.
There was a sense of order and structure throughout the exhibition which I found particularity intriguing as it nade me think that Hirst has a sense of obsessive compulsive disorder.
There was large colourful pieces of dead flies and butterflies used in large numbers, which makes you question the sustainabilities and 'eco nature ness' of the work.
The room of mirrored cigarettes and diamonds, big, glitzy, and shiney = today's view of materialism?
