Della folle mostra degli Spot Paintings di Damien Hirst nelle 11 gallerie di Larry Gagosian avevo parlato ad agosto qui. Secondo me tra tutte le pessime idee che che ha avuto Hirst questa è la migliore. In fondo questi quadri sono abbastanza innocui, un omaggio all’arte per l’arte. Avessi i soldi, uno di questi quadri io me lo appenderei volentieri in salotto. In fondo è facile abbinare con un divano dell’Ikea. Dico questo perché mi sembra ovvio che il vero Hirst non sia qui, ma altrove. L’ha spiegato bene Jerry Saltz su Art in America con un saggio intelligente che secondo me va al cuore della questione, in particolare quando scrive:

There’s a moment in the movie Blade Runner when Roy, the Nexus-6 replicant (a beautiful, nearly human android), finally finds the scientist-inventor who created him.  Roy asks what any of us might ask, could we confront our make:  why, after giving us life, do you have to take it away?  The slightly bemused scientist listens and then asks, “What seems to be the problem, Roy?” – to which Roy emphatically answers, “Death seems to be the problem! I want more life… fucker!”  In a nutshell, that’s what Damien Hirst’s work is all about – “more life.”

I wrote about the crazy exhibition of Damien Hirst’s Spot Paintings in the 11 galleriesof Larry Gagosian last August here. In my opinion among all the bad ideas that Hirst has had, this is the best. After all these paintings are quite harmless, a tribute to art for art’s sake. If I had the money, I were happy to hang one of these pictures in my living room. It is really easy to match them with a IKEA sofa. I say this because it seems obvious that the real Hirst is not here, but elsewhere. The Jerry Saltz explained it in a smart essay published on Art in America. I think that he goes to the heart of the matter, especially when he writes:

There’s a moment in the movie Blade Runner when Roy, the Nexus-6 replicant (a beautiful, nearly human android), finally finds the scientist-inventor who created him.  Roy asks what any of us might ask, could we confront our make:  why, after giving us life, do you have to take it away?  The slightly bemused scientist listens and then asks, “What seems to be the problem, Roy?” – to which Roy emphatically answers, “Death seems to be the problem! I want more life… fucker!”  In a nutshell, that’s what Damien Hirst’s work is all about – “more life.”