It was just a group show. The lack of any text about the show says it all. Surprisingly, artists’ works that had a huuuuuge impact on the development of contemporary art can still be presented as „mehhh” artworks at a „mehhhh” exhibition.
At least the curator, Damien Hirts’ son, didn’t bullshit about it. It’s in his Dad’s gallery, so I guess the show doesn’t even need explanation. Still, I really hoped he would amuse me with his curatorial approach, but no… he didn’t. I didn’t want to mention it at the beginning because it really impacts how one would look at the show, but all the works were from Hirst’s private collection. So there you are — the explanatory text was indeed not needed.
Connor, the curator, randomly placed the artworks on the walls. There was no curation what so ever. The show was nothing more than some paintings, photographs, prints and a few sculptures. I mean, there’s nothing wrong with just putting together a show that presents nice works, but this one was BIG because of the artists who were included, not because the works were cool.
It proves how insignificant artworks may seem if you don’t know the context of the work or the artist. Richard Prince's “artwork” was just a photo of a booby woman. Not a scandal as it, in fact, is. Gavin Turk’s work, Giraffe, left me heartbroken as I thought it was Cattelan’s, Comedian. But no, it was a copy in bronze. Like why would you do it? Cattelan’s work was good because it was a real banana. That was the concept. He didn’t make it in bronze on purpose… anyway. Some of the works didn’t age well. There were traces of dirty hands on the paintings, and the sculptures hanging on the walls had cracks in places that certainly shouldn't have been there. I don’t know if Hirst’s family has an art conservator, but if they do, they are not doing a great job :/
Works were dark but not in a scary way. Just weird. Many depicted sex and death. As for a private exhibition - pretty cool set of artists. As a public exhibition - it felt like the curator was saying, “Look like how rich I am and who are my mates”, while masturbating in front of the gallery.
On yeah! Regarding the gallery’a space and the whole atmosphere. What do you feel in a soulless space? It was as if I got back to 2021 when I started visiting a lot of galleries. I felt like I irritated the lady at the front desk just by walking in. I imagine this is how the art world must be on Damien’s level. Cold. Artificial. Full of famous people. So detached from the “normal” people's lives.
My friend summarises the show perfectly: You could easily miss it.
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