Summertime! Move over, Burmese Pythons - it’s Shark Season!
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991, the infamous Damien Hirst work of an eighteen foot long tiger shark in formaldehyde, was commissioned by the British collector Charles Saatchi from Mr. Hirst for £50,000 (now about $91,000) and was subsequently sold to Steve Cohen in 2004 for a reported $11.85 million. That is some return on investment.
Now, fourteen years later, the shark's skin is showing signs of wear and tear and Hirst is in negotiations to replace it. The shark has changed shape, and the solution surrounding it has become murky - as are the ethics.
Larry Gagosian, the gallery owner who brokered the 2004 deal, said:
The shark is a conceptual piece and to substitute a shark of equal size and appearance, in my opinion does not alter the piece.
If it is a different shark, shouldn’t the name of the piece be different?
Is ANY fur-lined teacup, THE fur-lined teacup? And, what kind of fur does it have to be?
Can ANY urinal be signed R. Mutt and be the same as the first one?
Can everything be mass-produced and marketed as an original?
So many questions. Give me some answers.
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3 comments:
would you not say that the tipping point came with warhol? was he not the one to make mass-produced (or just re-produced) artwork into ARTwork, and not just prints? in that same vein, what if you scanned your butt on your scanner and emailed it to someone as art. if they forward that .jpg or .bmp or .gif on to yet another person, does that make it less worthy?
You almost got me with your veiled request for my ButtScan.
And, yes, it does make it less worthy as a bmp or gif. JPGs rule!
But, seriously, Duchamp was the instigator of the mass produced object as art (the urinal, the bottle rack, the bicycle wheel ona stool). Bored, brat or genius. It is a fine line.
But Warhol did manage to sell his hair from beyond the grave...THAT is art.
duchanp turned mass-produced objects INTO art. warhol turned art into mass-produced objects. this is true in both the particular, such as "eleven elvises" or the canvases with the many marilyns or jackies; but also in the general sense, in that he produced multiple editions of pieces, each one different, as in all the maos or the last suppers.
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