NOT SOLD (BIDDING OVER)
0.00USD+ applicable fees & taxes.
This item WAS NOT SOLD. Auction date was 2003 Nov 13 @ 19:00UTC-05:00 : EST/CDT
PROPERTY from
the pisces trust
DAMIEN HIRST
(b.1966)
SOMETHING SOLID BENEATH THE SURFACE OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL
animal skeletons in nickel
and stainless steel-plated
glass display unit
803/4 x 148 x 48 in.
(205 x 376 x 122 cm) overall
executed in 2001
ESTIMATE: $800,000-1,200,000
PROVENANCE
White Cube, LONDON
EXHIBITED
Donaueschingen, Fürstenburg Sammlugen, AHEAD OF THE 21st CENTURY: THE PISCES COLLECTION, June 2002-October 2004,
pp. 104-105, no. 75 (illustrated)
LITERATURE
U. Grosenick, Fürstenburg Sammlugen, AHEAD OF THE 21st CENTURY: THE PISCES COLLECTION, ostfildern-ruit, 2002,
pp. 104-105, no. 75 (illustrated)
Unique among artists of his generation, Hirst has committed himself to working in the space between science and art, in a relentless pursuit of medical science, forensics, pharmacology, pathology and natural history, rendering these passions as the underlying core to his body of work. Hirst has infused the poetic lure of the scientific paper and pharmaceutical catalogue, with the skeletal shells of past animals, the pharmacy, the lab and death-tainted artifacts of the mortuary, as a means to extend his intellectual curiosity and passion about the technical foundations of modern life sciences and their practical applications in pharmacy, medicine, surgery and forensic analysis. Such titles as ISOLATED ELEMENTS SWIMMING IN THE SAME DIRECTION FOR THE PURPOSE OF UNDERSTANDING, THE PHYSICAL IMPOSSIBILITY OF DEATH IN THE MIND OF SOMEONE LIVING, WHEN LOGIcS DIE, HYMN, and the present lot, SOMETHING SOLID BENEATH THE SURFACE OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, announced the arrival of an artist different and brave enough to use contemporary science to clarify, celebrate and enhance the range and depth of his work.
It has further been explained that, "In addressing the big issues of the intrinsic frailty and vulnerability of life, the constant presence of death and disability and the role of ingenious technologies in blunting the ravages of disease, Hirst appears to respect the enormity of the technical challenges and the accomplishments made. His fascination with the underlying principles of biological design and function is consistent with the technological imperative to dissect and to identify the root cause of disease in order to design new ways to palliate, cure, and ideally, prevent illness and to delay the infirmities of old age...Comparative anatomy, physiology and pathology - the study of form, function and disease in animals - has been a fertile source of research knowledge to better inform human medicine. This theme is reflected in SOMETHING SOLID BENEATH THE SURFACE OF SEVERAL THINGS WISE AND WONDERFUL [a sister piece to SOMETHING SOLID BENEATH THE SURFACE OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL]. The delicate skeletal structures in this exhibit illustrate the exquisite economy of biological design. The same bony structures can be identified in the diverse skeletons but each are adapted by evolution to accommodate the selection pressures of evolutionary time."
D. Hirst and J. Beard, eds., THEORIES, MODELS, METHODS, APPROACHES, ASSUMPTIONS, RESULTS AND FINDINGS,
NEW YORK, 2000, p. 102
The Hirstian iconography is immediately identifiable: the precision-engineered vitrines, the cabinets of modern curiosities, the regimented displays of surgical instruments, medical devices, whole suspended, dissected, flayed, sectioned, formaldehyde-fixed animals, dotted pharmaceutical paintings and brightly colored canvases covered with butterflies. Each work is accompanied by slick, lengthy titles coined, by Hirst's own admission, with the intent to inform and simultaneously confuse the viewer. In Hirst's own famous words, he explains that "I'm going to die and I want to live forever. I can't escape the fact and I can't let go of the desire" (R. Violette, ed., I WANT TO SPEND THE ReST OF MY LIFE EVERYWHERE, WITH EVERYONE, ONE TO ONE, ALWAYS, FOREVER, NOW, LONDON, 1997, p. 82). Hirst ultimately harnesses in a common framework the scientific and forensic domains to reflect the cyclical patterns of life, decay and death and to chronicle the ingenious agenda of modern science to attenuate, frustrate and, ultimately, escape the burden of disease and to delay terminal decline. Hirst exposes us to the weight of a world of secrets, simultaneously elegant but threatening, the predictable posed to transform at any moment into a random framework and the seeming stability of "order" in a knife-edge balance with chaos. In SOMETHING SOLID BENEATH THE SURFACE OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL, Hirst essentially captures the paradigmatic framework for modern science and natural history as a means to explain and codify natural phenomenon and to analyze and interpret data obtained from observation. The vitrine remains a central element in this sculpture, as Hirst exploits this medium with consummate skill to demarcate spaces, to delineate boundaries and to highlight relationships between the animal skeletons to lure the viewer's attention, while simultaneously imposing a subtle physical barrier, which the viewer is not allowed to transcend, thus ultimately rending SOMETHING SOLID BENEATH THE SURFACE OF ALL CREATURES GREAT AND SMALL as a highly provocative and extravagant Hirst masterpiece.
Auction Location:
United States
Previewing Details:
Saturday November 1, 2003 10am to 5pm
Sunday November 2, 2003 1Pm to 5pm
Monday November 3, 2003 10am to 5pm
Tuesday November 4, 2003 10am to 5pm
Wednesday November 5, 2003 10am to 5pm
Thursday November 6, 2003 10am to 5pm
Friday November 7, 2003 10am to 5pm
Saturday November 8, 2003 10am to 5pm
Sunday November 9, 2003 1Pm to 5pm
Monday November 10, 2003 10am to 5pm
Tuesday November 11, 2003 10am to 5pm
Wednesday November 12, 2003 10am to 5pm
Additional Fees:
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