Blog Post about a few I artists have looked during this project. *
Starting with Damien Hirst, who featured prominately in my dissertation and also has been a prominant artist in my work.
Well known for his shark piece The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991) Hirst uses caged environments to house his animals within. Filling his steel cages with formaldehyde solution, Hirst is able to preserve his animal specimens. Hirst’s animal works have always fascinated me. With my current project the cases he uses in his works create an almost painterly boundary like a frame or edge of a canvas and the animal is housed within the confines of its enclosure – a dead zoo almost.
Hirst has always interested me for his unusual way of displaying of his animals and his butterfly room. But, it wasnt until last summer (2012) when I visited the Damien Hirst Tater show that I became a really big fan of his work. There I was able to really appreciate his work.
As an art student I have read quite a bit about Damien Hirst from the YBAs to the recent exhibition – and have read a lot about how viewers are shocked by shark and how the work impacted on them, and when I chose to put Hirst in my dissertation (as my central artist) I was worried that when I went to the exhibition the work wouldnt have this impact on me but I was wrong it did, the size, scale and slight ickyness (if thats a word) of the sharks and other animals was exactly as the books read and probably more because I had read up on him. (I may have rambled abit there …)
Anyway I think that Hirst has influenced my work in a fair few ways … some I know of but I’m sure there are some influences that I have picked up on yet, heres 2 I can tink of now :
1. he uses animals in his work – as do I (ok I don’t use dead animals I refer to animals BUT it could happen at some stage)
2. the encasing of not just animals but also other objects – my caged birds, deer in a frame (which I thought was on here but it isnt – will put a pic up) and my overrall “theme” of cage.
Damien Hirst (2013) The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991 [Online] Available at: http://www.damienhirst.com/the-physical-impossibility-of Accessed on: 25/04/2013
Cornelia Parker‘s The maybe (1995) is another piece that fed into some of my earlier ideas within this project. Here, Parker collaboroated with Tilda Swinton, an actress, who took part in th piece as a sleeping figure, again like with Hirst’s animal works, in the confines of a case. Swinton lay asleep within the casing where viewers can see her but cannot touch her – almost as if she is an exhibit in a zoo where passers by are observing her asleep – almost as if they were observing a sleeping lion.
Like Parker I want to create an environment and idea for a performance piece that will take place in my cage – be this during the degree show, a pre recorded piece, or during the Private View.
Frith Street Gallery (2013)Cornelia Parker[Online] Available at:http://www.frithstreetgallery.com/artists/works/cornelia_parker/2/Accessed on: 25/04/2013
Last artist for this post is Tehching Hsieh.
I just happened to come across him by chance whilst doing a quick random internet search. His particular performance piece Cage 1978-1979 saw him inhabiting within a caged area of his studio. Hsieh lived in the confines of the enclosure he built. he was looked after by one person who fed him and made sure he was alive. this work fascinated me because its almost as if he himself enclosed himself away from the world and became an animal – just as animals are dependent on their keepers to stay alive he was almost dependent on the one man.
Tehching Hsieh (2013) Artworks [Online] Available at: http://www.one-year-performance.com/ Accessed on: 25/04/2013
* Blog post has been updated after re-visiting my sketchbooks and adding more info and doing some more research
