The Tate Modern’s exhibition of Damien Hirst’s work opened last week, and I thought I was time to check in on the reaction. It is, the Tate says:
the first substantial survey of his work in a British institution and will bring together key works from over twenty years. The exhibition will include iconic sculptures from his Natural History series, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991, in which he suspended a shark in formaldehyde. Also included will be vitrines such as A Thousand Years from 1990, medicine cabinets, pill cabinets and instrument cabinets in addition to seminal paintings made throughout his career using butterflies and flies as well as spots and spins. The two-part installation In and Out of Love, not shown in its entirety since its creation in 1991 and Pharmacy 1992 will be among the highlights of the exhibition.
The Tate advises, on its website, “We are currently experiencing a very high demand for tickets. We strongly advise booking in advance to avoid disappointment.”
When I looked for reviews, I discovered that my friend Helen Stoilas at The Art Newspaper had already compiled some quotes from the reviews, published on the web — “Thumbs down (bar one) for Damien Hirst at Tate Modern.”  That one, I guess, is Richard Dorment at the “conservative” Daily Telegraph, who is quoted saying:
“For reasons that I don’t understand, he insists on presenting himself as a fraud who is somehow pulling the wool over the eyes of the public. And that’s a pity, because in Tate Modern’s full-scale retrospective he comes across as a serious—if wildly uneven—artist.†Dorment ends his review saying: “In many ways this is a difficult show, but I left it with a sense of Hirst as an artist whose moral stature can no longer be questioned.â€
Less kind were critics at the Guardian, the Financial Times, the Times, and independent critic (former director of Kelvingrove in Glasgow) Julian Spalding, whose new book, Con Art–Why you ought to sell your Damien Hirsts while you can, apparently disqualified him, in the Tate’s view, from attending the press preview to do interviews for the BBC. Shame on the Tate Modern, if that’s the whole story. Here’s an account in the Independent, hat-tip to TAN.
To TAN’s roundup article, let me add a few:
- The Toronto Globe and Mail sat on the fence, concluding “The local reviews are in and most of them are reservedly damning – there is a sense among the press in London that Hirst should have made more of his talent, and this show is evidence of a once-starry reputation in decline.”
- The Daily Mail called Hirst a fraud.
Presumably, the Tate has its man and is sticking with him, charging £14.00 for adults, and warning visitors to expect an hour of wait time before buying tickets. The exhibit was, btw, sponsored by the Qatar Museums Authority
Photo Credit: Hirst and his “I am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds,” Oli Scarff/Getty Images via The Art Newspaper