Damien Hirst's work 'For the Love of God' and Mercantilism

Damien Hirst's work 'For the Love of God' and Mercantilism

1. Define the work, giving details of form and materials.

'For the Love of God', this is a amazing, jaw dropping piece of art created by Damien Hirst. the form of this art is a platinum casted human skull. but it is not that simple. This human skull has something a little more eye catching to it. The skull is encrusted with 8.601 diamonds. A pear shaped diamond located on the skulls forehead is the centerpiece of the work this is included in the 8.601 diamonds on the skull. 

2. What does the work mean? What is Damien Hirst communicating in the work?
Hirst's art is commonly surround by the thought of death, this proven true in this artwork. This Piece, being an 18th century skull that was purchased in london. Mexican Skulls encrusted in Turquoise was where the idea erupted from. In an interview he explained, 'I just want to celebrate life by saying to hell with death. What better way of saying that than by taking the ultimate symbol of death and covering it in the ultimate symbol of luxury, desire and decadence? The only part of the original skull that will remain will be the teeth. You need that grotesque element for it to work as a piece of art. God is in the details and all that.'  The New York Times also interviewed Hirst, he explained, 'I remember thinking it would be great to do a diamond one, but just prohibitively expensive, then i started to think, maybe thats why its 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' Here Hirst tells us that the skull is to ironically brighten/lighten a dark subject. I guess using diamonds was the right material then. 

3. How does Hirst's diamond encrusted skull relate to Mercantilism and to conspicuous consumption?
According to the online dictionary, mercantilism also called mercantile system, a theory prevalent in Europe during the 17th and 18th centuries asserting that the wealth of a nation depends on its possession of precious metals and therefore that the government of a nation must maximise the foreign trade surplus, and foster national commercial interests, a merchant marine, the establishment of colonies, etc. This can be related to Damien Hirst's work as the is creating a work to be sold for a larger amount it was made for, this resulting is a profit further realting to wealth. This is common in mercantilism such as exports minus imports. As Hirst was able to create such an expensive artwork with the materials purchased himself, it is clearly shown that he must have an extravagant amount of money, and to do something as amazing as this, it is a clear way to show his wealth. 
4. How much did the work cost, and how much was it sold for, and who bought it?
The work that was produced in 2007 containing 8,601 diamonds was $20million to produce, including materials and fabrication. The pear shaped diamond on the forehead of the life sized skull alone is to be work $4.2million. According to Londons White Cube Gallery where the work was displayed announced that the 'British artist Damien Hirst Diamond encrusted skull sold for $100million dollars.' This artwork was the most expensive artwork ever sold by a living artist and broke records. A group of anonymous investors purchased the work and it is believed the plan to resell the work later for an increased price. 

5. What are some of the differing opinions of the journalists in the newspaper and blog articles?
   What did they think of the work?

When researching i found two prominent opinions, one being a work of genius from one of Britain's most talented artist, the other being a tacky symbol of excess and an art market being 'drunk with money'. But every critic has an opinion of Hirst's diamond encrusted skull, questioning the authenticity of the piece. Hirst hired technicians to create the piece taking 18 months, but Hirst stands by his working making the concept of the art important rather than the work itself. Many believe that the money spent on the work is beyond belief and could have been spent on many other things, they also have said the same work could have been created for less. But on the argumentative side of that, the work would not have the same extravagance to it if it had not had its worth.  Robin Simon, editor of The British Art Journal stated ‘all of Hirst’s works are stunts, but this one is just a more expensive stunt. It’s vacuous nonsense.' 

6. Based on your research, what is your opinion of the work, as an object or a work of art.

My personal opinion on this art work seems to be the same of Robin Simon. As much as i appreciate the time, thought, effort and money put into the artwork, i understand the extravagance and i believe that if i was to see this in person my views may change, but for now i believe that the monetary value has exceeded the worth of true art. I believe this art is memorable for the price rather than the talent and it doesn't have the true beauty and value that other artworks contain.

http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/mercantilism?s=t

http://www.nytimes.com/2007/06/03/magazine/03Style-skull-t.html

http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Damien_Hirst_For_The_Love_Of_God.html

1. First define mercantilism, using material from your ALVC handbook, and explain how it has developed since the Renaissance.
According from the Columbia Encyclopedia, in the 16th, 17th and 18th century the European government declared the wealth of the country depended on its major trading. Therefore Europe had to maximise the trading of precious metals, especially gold as they were in universal demand. 
Foreign trade along with manufacturing and processing were chosen over domestic trade. it has developed since the renaissance as it has now become a world wide trading system. 

2. Identify the ideas or concepts in Hall's work that relate to Mercantilism? 
Fiona Hall, through her work is able to show the issue of Mercantilism though her work. Hall shows this through her materials used, she cleverly uses the material of money to show the wealth that the European Countries wanted to get a hold of. Hall takes the mean of money and changes it so it doesn't show the importance of what is it thought of, she uses the money to form different shapes or to use as a background and so money is no longer the focus. This relates back to Mercantilism as she took the issue and bought th unimportance of wealth to her audiences attention. 

3. For each work describe the shape, form and materials used, and also explain the ideas behind each example.

Fiona Hall realtes her work to mercantilism in various ways. In the below art work 'Leaf Litter' Hall has used various currencies' banknotes and painted a leaf with gouche paint which creates a transparently so you are able to identify the banknotes through the leaf. This idea is related to mercantilism as you are able to see the wanted wealth that Europe was hungry for through the natural materials (which were being sold). the Irony of this work is that the money/wealth that the country was so greedy for was also made form a natural material. 

 ' Leaf Litter' (1999-2003) Fiona Hall

This is another work by Fiona Hall, called tender. the materials used is shredded money moulded into the shapes of birds nest. This strongly is related to economic problem of deforestation as the money we use to destroy the forests in shaped into the homes of the birds which would live in the forest. 

4. In your opinion do the materials communicate the ideas of the work? Please explain your answer. 

i believe that the materials Hall use's are extremely relevant to the work she does. It clearly communicates the idea behind the work. Through the materials Fiona is able to communicate the differences between two worlds, Hall is able to establish the problem at hand and her choice of materials further explain the problem along with the way in which it is made. 

5. Fiona Hall's recent project The Kermadecs focuses on issues around the Pacific ocean. Research this project to summarize the importance of the area and upload an image to your blog for discussion.
The National Geographic Society did a marine census in 2010 and declared the Kermadecs one of the 'last pristine sites left in the ocean' From this a long term goal was formed to uphold this given reputation. Here Hall has used her artwork to demonstrate the marine issue around the pacific ocean. This particular artwork 'shoot the breeze' made in 2011 expresses the loss of loosing a living world. In my opinion i belie this artwork is presented in a way which it is simple fr the viewer to get an idea as to what the meaning is. You are able to clearly establish the fish, then as the eyes naturally move downwards we are then able to make out the can which canned fish is packaged in. the placement is logical and easy to read which creates a good piece of work.