DAMIEN HIRST

..and his obsession with death. i still don't know whether i like this guy, or his work. i think he would be very interesting to talk to, but i doubt i would ever understand him. maybe hes not so much obsessed with death, he just has a massive job lot of formaldehyde?

in the art world, he cant seem to do anything wrong. is it just me who thinks his pieces are a bit pointless?

Hirst has been in the news this month for taking the drastic career move to sell off a complete show of his work in a public auction at Sotheby's in London. the sale included works such as The Golden Calf, a cow with 18-carat gold horns and hooves, preserved in formaldehyde, and The Kingdom, a preserved tiger shark. there were also other animals such as a unicorn and a zebra, preserved in the same way.

pieces such as Mother and child divided, a cow which is sliced length ways, and again preserved in formaldehyde and placed in a glass tank, i can see as being useful for scientific purposes. i would find it interesting to see as an informative sculpture rather than an art form.

for me, it has to have concept. in my opinion, his latest works should not be described as art, and should definitely not be worth millions. i agree with this guy..

"Have they gone stark raving mad? The works of the 'artist' are lumps of dead animals. There are thousands of young artists who didn't get a look in, presumably because their work was too attractive to sane people. Modern art experts never learn." - Norman Tebbit.

i don't understand how he can take a dead animal, put it in a tank and claim that he has transformed it into a piece of expensive art, surely its still just an animal, but dead. i also cant understand why people would pay money for them, or why you would want them in the first place.

Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain, is a black calf tied to a pole with arrows through it. yet again, its in a tank of formaldehyde. apparently George Michael has recently bought this piece making it Hirst's fourth most expensive piece.


what the hell is Mr Michael going to do with that?