Thursday, February 19, 2009

Eugenio Merino's Controversial Damien Hirst Sculpture: For the Love of Gold

4 the Love of Go(l)d by Eugenio Moreno. Photograph: ADN Galeria

British art critics ranging from Robert Hughes to the Stuckists have been suggesting that Damien Hirst has a hole in his head for years. One could say that sculptor Eugenio Merino agrees with said criticism-- but not in the way you might think. Eugenio Merino has created a life-size sculpture of Damien Hirst-- complete with inflated head (representing ego?)-- which places the British art in a suicide pose.
Merino’s Hirst is posed on his knees holding a Colt 45 to his head-- a bloodied bullet wound glistens as blood runs down the sculptures mouth. The sculpture, titled ‘For the Love of Gold’ -- also known as '4 the Love of Go(l)d'-- was unveiled at the 28th Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair (ARCO) alongside other works by Eugenio Merino that parody Damien Hirst’s art and art world status. The sculpture stirred controversy within hours of being unveiled.

Merino has stated that the sculpture-- which has been placed in a tank similar to the tanks used by Damien Hirst to display the remains of animals in formaldehyde-- is symbolic of the financial crisis that is facing the art world. Merino’s controversial sculpture is a parody of Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’, a widely successful piece involving a diamond encrusted skull that sold for more than $100 million to a group of investors in 2007-- just before the global financial meltdown.

Eugenio Merino has stated that Damien Hirst is too concerned about profit. Merino has suggested to reporters that Hirst should shoot himself since he is so concerned about money, stating that if Hirst did that the value of his work would “increase dramatically“. Merino has made it clear that the sculpture is a “joke” and that he does not wish harm on Damien Hirst-- in fact, Merino is a fan of Hirst and studied his art extensively while in art school. Merino stated, "It is a joke but it is also paradoxical that if he did kill himself his work would be worth even more,". He went on to say that the sculpture is a metaphor for the current state of the art world.

Eugenio Merino’s visual message about the excess and decadence of the art world has taken an ironic twist in that his ‘For the Love of Gold’ has already been purchased for $41,000. Other reports state that all of Merino’s Hirst parodies have been bought by collectors in Portugal and Holland. Which begs the question-- are collectors missing Merino’s message? Perhaps they are unknowing participants. Merino has stated, "It is ironic. I've never sold so much.". For the love of gold, indeed.

A collage by Cartrain involving Damien Hirst's 'For the Love of God'

Damien Hirst has yet to respond concerning Eugenio Merino's controversial sculpture. It will be interesting to see if he responds to Merino in the same way that he responded to Cartrain-- the young British street artist who made parodies of Hirst's 'For the Love of God' not long ago. Cartrain was forced to hand over the profit he made from selling his parodies-- around $200-- as well as the remaining prints and original works. Some reports have stated that Cartrain's prints and original works have since been destroyed. Which begs the question-- will Eugenio Merino's 'For the Love of Gold' share the same fate?

Links of Interest:


'Suicide' sculpture of Damien Hirst causes controversy in Spain
www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2009/feb/18/damien-hirst-suicide-sculpture-eugenio-moreno
For the Love of God: Damien Hirst Threatens Young Artist with Legal Action
Birds of a Feather Flock Together: Damien Hirst & Shepard Fairey / Cartrain & Baxter Orr
Take care, Stay true,
Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace.com
New York Art Exchange
London Calling

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posted by Balhatain at 12:45 PM 5 Comments

Wednesday, February 11, 2009

Red Rag To a Bull vs. Other Criteria?

Cha-Ching!

A report from Bloomberg explains that Damien Hirst has opened a second Other Criteria (www.othercriteria.com) store in London. Some may recall from past Myartspace Blog articles that Other Criteria is Hirst’s publishing and merchandising venture. Of the store Hirst has stated, “I don’t think art has ever been as popular as it is today and Other Criteria aims to sell affordable art of the highest quality to everyone who wants it.” . Apparently the price for Other Criteria art and merchandise ranges from $5 to $5,800.

Some art world insiders view Other Criteria as a jab at the traditional art market. After all, the first Other Criteria store was opened next to Sotheby’s shortly after Hirst’s “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever.” which took place at the auction house. Hirst’s break from the traditional brick & mortar art market stirred shock waves of criticism from gallery owners throughout the world. Needless to say, many gallerists feared that top billed artists would decide to take their art and career into their own hands by following Hirst’s independent lead. You can’t blame Hirst for being an entrepreneur .

On the other side of the UK art spectrum, the Stuckists-- as reported by Bloomberg-- have opened up their own online ‘store’ at www.redragtoabull.com. The site states, “Red Rag To A Bull is a radical institution dedicated to the pursuit of "FREEDOM, TRUTH and JUSTICE in the art world and BEYOND". And also overblown statements.”. The purpose of the site is “for CREATIVE CRITICAL REVIEW and should be treated as such“. The sites goes on to state that, “ALL images and any proposed sale of these images is designed to create critical dialogue and may or may not be what they first appear to be.”
In a sense the site is a conceptual anti-conceptual work in progress-- if there is such a thing. Needless to say, if it had been created by anyone else it would have probably been reviewed in a art magazine or two by now. On a side note: Readers of the Myartspace Blog may recall my interview with Charles Thomson -- Co-Founder of the Stuckists -- which was posted in October of 2006.
A collage by Cartrain involving Damien Hirst's 'For the Love of God'. Cha-Ching with an extra Cha.

Viewing the Red Rag To a Bull online store I noticed that one of its directives is to support CarTrain , the 16 year old street artist who was recently threatened by Damien Hirst’s legal team on allegations of copyright infringement. CarTrain, had created, distributed, and sold prints involving a parody of Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’. It seems that Hirst was not thrilled to discover that a young graffiti artist had profited from prints involving his copyright protected works-- nevermind the fact that he himself has infringed on copyright in the past (reminds one of the Shepard Fairey vs. Baxter Orr issue).
That said, due to the fame of ‘For the Love of God’ I’m sure CarTrain’s Hirst parodies would be considered “fair use”-- at least in the United States. After all, the images by CarTrain served as a social comment about Hirst’s status in UK society as well as the art world in general. I don’t think there was any confusion as to who created what. CarTrain established dialogue with his parody.

Cartrain has some strong support-- Stuckists James Cauty, Jamie Reid, and Billy Childish have created various prints and other products that parody Damien Hirst’s artwork. Parodies of works by D*Face and the Chapman Brothers can also be found on the site.
Links of Interest:
Hirst Opens Second Shop, Defies Slump With 3.50 Pound Keychains -- Bloomberg
Take care, Stay true,
Brian Sherwin
Senior Editor
myartspace.com
New York Art Exchange
London Calling

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posted by Balhatain at 10:30 AM 4 Comments