Saturday, January 21, 2012

Damien Hurst and Andy Warhol

Damien Hurst is a class act.

His diamond-encrusted skull is one of the most expensive pieces of art ever crafted.
Dead animals floating in formaldehyde has shocked many. Hurst has a penchant for taking dead things and by making them look more ghastly, he makes them seem more alive.

His work with dead butterflies forming cathedral windows is stunning. I visited his Gagosian annex in Beverly Hills several years ago. The stain-glass impression produced by dead butterflies affixed to clay disturbing yet mesmerizing. It was a spiritual experience, to say the least. I believe his work with dead butterflies turned living testimonies of religious fervor are the best by far.

In one profound sense, Mr. Hurst channels the wacky charm of pop artist Any Warhol. Having created a canvas that sprawls across the country, Hurst engineered a factor of assistants who create canvasses with dots of different colors. He is painstaking in his efforts to ensure that no one color is every duplicated on his dot portraits. Now, he has invited outside influence from observers and patrons to contribute to his world-wide dot spectacle. Amazing stuff!

Hurst does not repeat himself like Warhol, yet both have no qualms putting their names to works that have been concocted on an assembly line. The creative genius of these two artists lies in their repudiation and mockery of repetition and machination. Creative and calculated, Hurst and Warhol have instituted brands that will yield curiosity, appreciation, and profit for years to come.

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