| 達明安•赫斯特 (Damien Hirst)
達明安•赫斯特1965年出生於布裏斯托爾，從小在英格蘭北部的利茲長大。1983-1985年，在利茲Jacob Kramer藝術學院學習，1986-1989年，就讀于倫敦哥德史密斯學院。1994年，他獲得柏林德國藝術交流中心國際藝術家項目的提名，1995年獲“透納獎”。如今，達明安•赫斯特在英國格洛斯特郡生活和工作。
在1988年，赫斯特策劃了展覽“冰凍（Freeze）”。這個展覽包括了赫斯特自己以及他在哥德史密斯學院的同學們的作品，赫斯特也因此受到了普遍關注。這個傳奇的展覽傳遞著這樣一種訊息——位於倫敦東部的港口住宅區，在廢棄的工業建築裏那些倉庫大小的空間內，藝術家們自己策劃的一系列的展覽的開始。這些展覽被作為英國20世紀90年代藝術家策劃的展覽裏先鋒運動和進步的絕佳例子。達明安•赫斯特的首次個展是1991年在當代藝術中心舉辦的“內部事務”[Internal Affairs]. 1994年，他還在倫敦蛇形畫廊策劃了展覽“有些瘋了，有些逃了”[Some Went Mad, Some Run Away].
赫斯特對科學和藝術的聯繫也一直很感興趣。他常常往自己的作品中注入醫學的元素，比如藥品，藥櫃和藥片等；他的“點”畫模擬的事醫學顏色代碼。赫斯特也常常使用日常生活中的素材，比如辦公桌椅和香煙，這在作品《對逃亡的後天無能》[The Acquired Inability to Escape,1992]裏可以看得出來。儘管作品裏 並沒有人類作為主角，但卻暗含著人的缺席。我們面對的是一個人造環境，簡潔乾淨的現代玻璃窗的設計同樣提醒著我們：這是一個水族館或者是動物園。儘管，赫斯特通過玻璃窗的香煙想要展示的是逃離的概念，但因為玻璃窗式密封的，所以從這個白領存在的空間裏逃出去是不可能的。一把轉椅和一張桌子，這種典型的辦公用品元素，被用來當作人類存在過的標誌，就像人類學的手工藝品。赫斯特通過這件作品，也在暗示生活不能在一個貧瘠和人造的環境裏，被簡化的只具有功能性。
赫斯特對於生物生命的有限性也十分感興趣。他將動物的屍體浸泡在甲醛溶液裏的作品尤為著名，《迷途的羔羊》[Away from the Flock,1994]就是其中之一，那是一隻泡在甲醛溶液裏的羔羊。在作品《女孩，喜歡男孩，喜歡男孩喜歡女孩，就像女孩喜歡男孩》[Girls, Who Like Boys, Who Like Boys, Who Like Girls, Like Girls, Like Boys,2006]裏，畫的表層裝飾佈滿了非常漂亮的彩蝶，不過也有讓人憂慮的剃鬚刀。赫斯特在此提醒觀眾的是生命的短暫。雖説蝴蝶讓畫的表層變得非常漂亮，但是剃鬚刀讓人聯想到的是“鏡中花月”的畫面，它提醒我們危險的存在和物質美的非永久性。作品的名稱取自1995年英國著名流行樂隊“模糊”樂隊的一首歌《男孩和女孩》，畫布上的色彩突出的是生理吸引的複雜性。
赫斯特是國際公認的英國最具影響力的藝術家。近來，他開始致力於在倫敦和格洛斯特郡拓展新的展覽空間，以此來推動當代藝術的發展。同時，他打算在格洛斯特郡建立一個博物館。
Damien Hirst was born in Bristol,1965 and grew up in Leeds, in the North of England. He studied at Jacob Kramer College of Art, Leeds, 1983-5 and then at Goldsmiths College, London 1986-9. He was nominated for the DAAD International Artists Programme in Berlin in 1994 and won the Turner Prize in 1995. Damien Hirst lives and works in Gloucestershire, Great Britain.
Hirst came to public attention in 1988 when he curated “Freeze”, an exhibition containing his work as well as that of fellow Goldsmith College students. This marked the beginning of a series of exhibitions curated by artists in warehouse sized spaces in disused industrial buildings in the docklands area of East London. These exhibitions are often cited as prime examples of the enterprising movement and rise in artist curated shows in Britain throughout the 90s. Damien Hirst’s first public solo exhibition “Internal Affairs” was held at the ICA in 1991. He also curated “Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away” at the Serpentine Gallery, London in 1994.
Hirst has always had an interest in the relation between science and art. He often incorporates elements from the medical world in his work, such as medical drugs, medicine cabinets and pills - his ‘spot’ paintings mimic pharmaceutical colour codings. However, Hirst has also frequently used everyday materials in his works such as office furniture and cigarettes as in The Acquired Inability to Escape (1992). Here although there is no human protagonist, their absence is implied. We are faced with an artificial environment, a sleekly designed modernist vitrine which equally reminds us of an aquarium or zoo enclosure. Hirst shows that despite attempted escapism through, in this case, smoking cigarettes, because the vitrine is sealed, breaking away from the traps of a white collared worker’s existence is impossible. Typical office furniture elements - a swivel chair and a desk, are displayed as traces of human presence, like anthropological artefacts. Hirst also implies that life cannot be reduced to mere functionality, within a sterile and artificial environment.
Hirst is also interested in the limits of biological life, and is well known for his work with animals preserved in formaldehyde. One of his most celebrated pieces, Away from the Flock (1994), features a lamb preserved in the fluid. In Girls, Who Like Boys, Who Like Boys, Who Like Girls, Like Girls, Like Boys (2006) the paint surface is encrusted with stunning coloured butterflies, as well as more disquieting devices such as razors. Here Hirst reminds the viewer of the transience of life. Despite the butterflies’ beautiful veneer, the razors create associations with ‘vanitas’ imagery, reminding us of the danger and impermanence of material beauty. The work’s title is an adaptation of lyrics from a famous 1995 pop song British band Blur, Boys and Girls, the colours of the canvases underlining the reference to the complexities of physical attraction.
Hirst has had extensive international visibility as Britain’s most influential artist. Recently he has taken to promoting contemporary art through fostering new exhibition spaces in London as well as in Gloucestershire, where he intends on opening a museum. |
