Treasures From the Wreck of the Unbelievable Review
Gigantic, gaping ocean monsters, coral-covered maidens, i-eyed cyclopes, goddesses and gilt coins – these make upwards 'Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable'. It'south Damien Hirst'due south latest exhibition and his commencement major prove in 13 years, which has taken a full decade to create and stage in Venice. The premise: a shipwreck uncovered a decade ago, and now housed hither, along with museum copies of the recovered artefacts. The accompanying catalogue significantly opens with Ariel'southward song from Shakespeare's tardily and fantastical play about a shipwreck, 'The Tempest':
'Full fathom five thy begetter lies;
Of his bones are coral fabricated;
Those are pearls that were his eyes:
Nil of him that doth fade,
Just doth endure a sea-change
Into something rich and foreign'.
Information technology's a nod to magic and mystery, which is then followed by another story – that of this shipwreck – which is equally filled with the language of myth and legend:
'In 2008, a vast wreckage site was discovered off the declension of Eastward Africa. The finding lent credence to the legend of Cif Amotan Two, a gratuitous slave from Antioch (n-west Turkey) who lived between the mid-first and early-second centuries CE….The freedman's one hundred fabled treasures – commissions, copies, fakes, purchases and plunder – were brought together on a colossal ship, the Apistos (translates from Koine Greek every bit the 'Unbelievable')…all the same the vessel floundered.
The collection lay submerged…for some 2 thousand years before the site was discovered in 2008…this exhibition brings together the works recovered in this extraordinary find'.
This narrative is echoed through photography, which bear witness artefacts from the ship continuing on the ocean flooring, casting shadows and haunting silhouettes. These are then shown being pulled to land, encrusted with corals and marine life, in several films.
Taking main stage are Hirst's objects, and there are almost 200 of them, which fill up the entirety of French collector François Pinault's two museums in the urban center, Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana. Venice is the perfect setting for this water-themed show, abundant with classical references, and many of the objects are as exquisite as the originals they replicate.
I recommend starting at Palazzo Grassi, where you lot will see 'Demon with Bowl': standing taller than eighteen metres, this monumental figure fills the museum's marble-pillared atrium, from flooring to ceiling. As you lot move upwards, climbing to the upper galleries, y'all are able to view the headless creature from various viewpoints – information technology is mesmerising.
Walking within the carefully curated galleries, you are met with objects including 'Skull of a Cyclops' in bronze, 'Cerberus' in Carrara marble and 'Andromeda and the Sea Monster', positioned below a ceiling, frescoed with illusionistic, classical scenes. Accompanying labels tell of myths – Damien Hirst has evidently been reading 'The Odyssey', among other ancient texts. As you climb higher, the objects become more than fantastical (and kitsch). 'Skull of a Unicorn', 'Goofy' and a barnacle-encrusted 'Mickey' make a mockery to any lingering beliefs about the shipwreck's reality. Viewers are smiling, from art aficionados to children.
"It's all nearly what you want to believe" – Damien Hirst.
At that place are darkened rooms of glass-protected utensils, such as scythes, and golden coins, which point to the place of the museum in aestheticizing the historical artefact. Hirst is remarking on the museum's power to frame objects in a detail way, turning anthropology into decorative art. He also turns his bear on to the epitome of the fine art collector: on one wall a smoothly sculpted 'Bust of the Collector', formed out of statuary, is pointedly hung upwardly and covered, along one side, in exaggerated coral.
This hitting show has all the usual themes that y'all would wait from Hirst – sex, expiry, mortality – and it even includes a shark. At the same time, it is layered in myth. Hirst creates a commentary on the stories that artists, collectors, museums and the art world cultivate. Only for me, the biggest myth of all is that this show can exist attributed to Hirst. He has a team of highly skilled artists behind him, which is like shooting fish in a barrel to forget in the mythical land of the Unbelievable. Hirst, in recent years, has become more collector and museum possessor than artist, making him the perfect person to curate this collection of thalassic tales.
'Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable' is displayed across v,000 square meters of museum space and marks the offset time that Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, the two Venetian venues of the Pinault Collection, are both dedicated to a single artist. It volition exist on show until third December 2017 and you can book tickets here.
Source: https://ruthmillington.co.uk/damien-hirst-treasures-from-the-wreck-of-the-unbelievable/
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