Week 4- Damien Hirst and the diamond skull.

Sunday, March 21, 2010
Week 4- Damien Hirst and the diamond skull.

As we will be at Noho Marae at Awataha in week 4, this blog question is for week 4 and week 5.
Research the art work of Damien Hirst, in particular his work 'For the love of God'(2008), a diamond encrusted skull.

Discuss how Hirst's persona and work relate to the Renaissance concepts of Mercantillism and the (increased) status of the artist.
Posted by Julia at 1:52 AM 0 comments
Labels: Damien Hirst, diamond encrusted skull, For the love of God, Mercantillism, status of the artist.

Damien Hirst's latest artwork is this life-size platinum skull encrusted with 8,601 fine diamonds. The sculpture, titled "For The Love of God," will likely sell for as much as $100 million, making it the priciest contemporary artwork ever made. White Cube gallery is selling several limited edition silkscreen prints of the work, priced from £900 to £10,000, for one sprinkled with diamond dust. The title of the piece comes from Hirst's mother who asked her son, “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?” From the New York Times:
For Hirst, famous pickler of sharks and bovine bisector, all his art is about death. This piece, which was cast from an 18th-century skull he bought in London, was influenced by Mexican skulls encrusted in turquoise. “I remember thinking it would be great to do a diamond one — but just prohibitively expensive,” he recalls. “Then I started to think — maybe that’s why it is a good thing to do. Death is such a heavy subject, it would be good to make something that laughed in the face of it.”

Hirst, who financed the piece himself, watched for months as the price of international diamonds rose while the Bond Street gem dealer Bentley & Skinner tried to corner the market for the artist’s benefit. Given the ongoing controversy over blood diamonds from Africa, “For the Love of God” now has the potential to be about death in a more literal way.

“That’s when you stop laughing,” Hirst says. “You might have created something that people might die because of. I guess I felt like Oppenheimer or something. What have I done? Because it’s going to need high security all its life.”


http://boingboing.net/2007/06/02/damien-hirsts-diamon.html

Week 3- Fiona Hall's work and Mercantillism

' Leaf Litter' (1999-2003)

Tender' (2003-05)



Fiona Hall's contemporary work relates to the Renaissance concept of Mercantillism.

Research the two examples; 'Tender'(2003-05) and 'Leaf Litter'(1999-2003) to explain how they relate to this concept. First define mercantillism and explain how it has developed since the Renaissance. For each work you will need to describe the shape, form and materials of the work, and explain the ideas behind each example.

These works were part of an art show titled 'Force Field' which can be viewed in one of the exhibition spaces on Youtube - Part Three: Fiona Hall: Force Field

THE GREAT WALL

Auckland Triennial 2010

Wednesday, February 24, 2010

Week One - Auckland Triennial 2010

Mahmoud Bakhshi, Tulips Rise from the Blood of the Nation's Youth, 2008,
neon, tin, wood, plastic, electric engines, courtesy of the artist and
Khastoo Gallery, Los Angeles

'Last Ride in a Hot Air Balloon' is the title for the 2010 4th Auckland triennial
which is on show from 12 March - 20 June. Watch the video of the curator,
Natasha Conland discussing the art show.
Youtube conland348. MP4
Use the information from the video and
on the Triennial website to answer the following questions;

1.What are the themes behind the title "Last ride...' for the Auckland triennial?
2. What does a curator of an exhibition do?
3. Which countries are represented in this year's triennial?
4. Is Auckland the only country to have a triennial? Are there other similar art shows?
5. Name 4 artists who will be showing work in the show.
6. Select an artist's work from the website, copy the work to your blog and write a short
comment on what the work is, and what it represents.(Reference your sources)
7. Comment on why you find this work interesting, how does it relate to your own interests?

Students doing the commentary should comment on their partners answers, and answer questions 6 and 7.

Jasonliu2010 said...
1.The 4th Auckland Triennial Last Ride in A Hot Air Balloon.

March 18, 2010 11:00 PM
Jasonliu2010 said...
2.curators are the backbone and director of museums or gallery.curators are in charge of taking care of their collections, spend their days acquiring new objects, creating exhibits and reaching out to the public

March 18, 2010 11:10 PM
Jasonliu2010 said...
3. NEW ZEALAND,IRAN,AUSTRALIA,SWEDEN,CHINA,DENMARK,UK,FRANCE,IRELAND,SCOTLAND,GERMANY,THAILAND..........The 2010 Auckland Triennial has focused on the world.

March 18, 2010 11:21 PM
Jasonliu2010 said...
4. I don`t think so . In some cities of China every one or two years have an Art and Culture Festival. The part of the Activities is Art exhibitions.

March 19, 2010 1:19 AM
Jasonliu2010 said...
5. Nick Austin( New Zealand)
Richard Bell(Australia)
Bo Zheng(Hong Kong)
Olivia Plender(UK)

March 19, 2010 1:24 AM
Jasonliu2010 said...
6. Ivan Clarke - a successful Queenstown landscape painter, went on holiday. As he departed, he looked back at his dog, looking wistfully after him. "That dog is lonely," he said.

Upon his return, he sketched, and then painted a picture like none he had ever done before. Instead of a gorgeous realistic landscape, brimming with light, Ivan painted a lively, whimsical image of a dog, standing fully clothed, looking longingly after a departing ferry, and lit by an over-bright moon. He called it "Bon Voyage.” Ivan also began telling his children the story of "Lonely Dog".
http://www.lonelydog.com/home-index.php

March 19, 2010 1:46 AM
Jasonliu2010 said...
7. One day ,I saw the sculpture what is a dog in the small art gallery when I went to home.I walked into the gallery and looked around.And read the introduction ,found it is very interesting.Because I thought in this society, I couldn`t say only dogs felt lonely, maybe the human felt more and more!!!At least I fell like that.