Wednesday 4 November 2009

Damien Hirst @ The Wallace Collection

Damien Hirst's new Exhibition 'No Love Lost' at the Wallace Collection, is a new chapter in his artistic undertaking, a back-to basics as it were.

Featuring 25 new paintings, the works feature an exploration of familiar Hirst motifs - skulls, butterflies, skeletons and dots, all painted on large canvases, with a thickly-applied oily black background.

Hirst's triptychs reference the great work of Francis Bacon, but they lack the visceral impact and the ability to leave the viewer breathless.

For me, the most interesting part of the exhibition is how these contemporary pieces have been curated in two rooms of blue silk-covered walls, with almost no differentiation between the classic baroque works that both precede and continue after the Hirst exhibition.

I enjoy the concept and humour in many of Hirst's creations and this is an interesting experiment. However, as an attempt to become 'one' with some of the great Masters of artistic tradition, it falls somewhat short.

(image source: The Wallace Collection)

No comments:

Post a Comment