Glass, painted steel, silicone, monofilament, shark and formaldehyde solution
Starting with a desire to turn an art gallery into a zoo, Damien Hirst began his “Natural History” series. He explains: “I always thought it would be great if art galleries were more like the Natural History Museum in London, where you go in and there’s this big wow factor, rather than having to ask yourself, 'What am I supposed to be thinking?’” This particular piece involving a real thirteen-foot tiger shark was entitled ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ and was meant to represent fear to those who viewed it. Post By Keola Tan
Firstly, I remember you mentioning the other day how you wanted to instill fear or some great emotion with your next project. I can see and appreciate how this piece has inspired you - this really is a striking piece!
I decided to check out the piece on Hirst's site. Looking at his artist statement, I thought this portion was really strong:
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Hirst’s intention was to force the viewer out of their element by introducing into a gallery setting, a shark that was “real enough to frighten you”.[2] By isolating the shark from its natural habitat, with the formaldehyde providing an illusion of life, the work explores our greatest fears, and the difficulty involved in adequately trying to express them. As Hirst states: “You try and avoid [death], but it’s such a big thing that you can’t. That’s the frightening thing isn’t it?”
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A painting or a structure definitely would not have invoked the same intensity of emotion as this. By using an actual shark, appearing to be just swimming in water, this is as real as it gets.
I do wonder, however, what controversy this instigates on the non-art community. You hear every day "we're hunting down too many sharks!" "stop cutting off just their fins, they won't be able to survive!" "without sharks our underwater ecosystem will go unbalanced!" etc. Is having a real shark just for the sake of art worthwhile?
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sofia mustelin
3/23/2014 06:52:23 pm
We were discussing this earlier as well and came to the conclusion that art that is intended to awaken primal feelings such as fear, can be just as interesting and worth while as art pieces which are deeply thought provoking and are perhaps trying to make a political or social statement. Does all art need to be deep and have something to say, or can art be something that is just aesthetically appealing to the viewer, without trying to convey a deeper message?
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Keola Tan
3/23/2014 07:08:47 pm
I do not believe that it is necessary to attach a political or social statement to each art creation. I feel that a lot of the times artists get caught up in creating such intricate and complicated layers of super deep meaning within their pieces that it overly frustrates the whole creation process. Art that is simply created out of enjoyment of the process is just as great as art motivated by a social or political issue. The funny thing is that once the art is separated from the artist, it is ultimately up to the audience to decide and determine what the piece is speaking about. A work created without a social issue driving it just might end up being seen as if it did, it all depends on what approach the audience takes when viewing the piece.
In response to Kevin, I'm pretty sure all the animal activists went crazy when they heard of a shark that was captured for art. I'd like to say that one missing shark does not significantly impact the underwater ecosystem so it is worthwhile. However, it becomes a different story should something like this become a trend. So it's really hard to say.
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Leia Tucker
4/15/2014 02:44:56 pm
I think this is so true! This is what I've always thought about art, there's no need to have a deeper upon deeper upon deeper meaning with everything. Sometimes people just want to wow you! Sometimes people just want to be wowed! I would definitely rather go to a museum like this than to "normal" museums. This to me is still considered art because he creates all of these images. Also, some of them would be able to teach others different things about animals or whatever he decides to create next.
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