Damien Hirst and Science Ltd
Though he remains “Britain’s richest artist”, Damien Hirst has been through something of a “fallow period” in recent years, said Mark Hudson in The Independent. Where once it seemed his work could only shoot up in value, his commercial and critical standing have taken a dive lately, and it has been reported that he has been laying off staff. But if Hirst is down, he is not out, and last week, on the very day that Covid-19 restrictions began to be relaxed in England, he opened the first of a year-long programme of exhibitions at London’s Gagosian Britannia Street. Composed of 41 works created between 1993 and the present day,
Last modified on Tue 13 Apr 2021 07.26 EDT
Damien Hirst has begun a year-long âtakeoverâ of the echoing concrete-floored spaces of Gagosian Britannia Street. Thereâs even a readymade hashtag #HirstTakeover, like a cry for attention. I canât see how a year-long exposure in a single commercial gallery can be good for any artist, but with Hirst showing something somewhere all the time anyway, I donât suppose it will stretch him too much. It is the staff at the London gallery I worry about. The works will be changing over the year, but no details are available.
The works filling the gallery presently come under the rubric of Fact Paintings and Fact Sculptures, and span more than 20 years between 1993 and the present. The earliest work is a cowâs head, with tongue lolling, bleeding quietly on the gallery floor. If it is blood (there might be health and safety issues if it is). More likely it is resin. Called Hot Love, Iâm not sure about the head either
Damien Hirst is considered a safe bet in a troubled art market Photo: Andrew Russeth
I am spending a lot more time at my desk these days. Sat with me at the moment is a copy of Gregor Muir’s rip-roaring 2009 memoir
Lucky Kunst: the Rise and Fall of Young British Art. On its cover, Tracey Emin and Damien Hirst exude Cool Britannia, not quite smiling out of a backdrop of Hirst-inspired spots. All are seemingly consigned to a 1990s London past.
The view from the 2020s is not so clear cut. Emin has pretty much become a national treasure with the dubious advantage of being too-long undervalued on the market. Neither can be said of Hirst, although he is certainly having something of a revival out of tougher times.