The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Eyes of Someone Living - Damien Hirst (1991)
- 13 ft tiger shark, suspended in formaldyhyde in steel glass vitrine - divided into three lengthways cubes
- Commissioned by Charles Saatchi for YBA1 exhibition
- Example of contemporary conceptual fine art
- Shark taken out of original setting - illusion of life (swimming through clear water)
- Initial shock factor - intended (like most YBA work) - 'real enough to frighten you' (Tate)
- Death slowly decaying in tank of formaldehyde
- Shark replaced in 1993 because it was decaying
- Looking at the theme of death and decay - its inevitability - mortality - we are subject to degeneration over time
- Not original artwork - constructed by Hirst's team (not himself) - concept is taking precedence over crafting - artist's tough
- Conceptual element, can't be understood easily by everyday viewer - Brody
- Does it lack intellectual esteem? Can anyone do it - Fearon - 'But you didn't' - wiki
- Bought by Steven A Chen for lots - 12 mil?? value = status?
Barack Obama 'Hope' poster - Shepherd Fairey (2008)
- Stencil portrait of Obama - front on, head tilted up to left - we look up at him
- Face = block colours - red, blues, beige
- Below is the word HOPE - bold blue capital lettering - stretches across whole image
- Created independently by Shepherd - distributed on street (290 printed copies, produced in a single day) - also digitally
- cheap cheap cheap - doesn't need a commission - anyone can create art like this - don't need to be hand picked - does this affect quality of dome art produced ? - Swagner / Langer
- Lost copyright court case in 2009 - lied about which photo he used - community service plus 25 grand
- Represents Obama's qualities - support for occupy movement - stand against imbalance in over and helping the average American - change/ a step in the right direction
- approved by presidential campaign in 2008 - became widely recognised as symbol of Obama campaign - lots of imitations (some commissioned by campaign)
- Obama as hope for the future - a push in the right direction
- The message of this image is explicitly obvious at first glance - focus on visual communication -immediate
- High impact and spread far through mass production - widely understood
- Does this obviousness make this image 2D? - Brody
Campbell's Soup Cans - Andy Warhol (1962)
- 32 separate canvases - 50x40 cm each.
- Exhibit a can - floating in white space of canvas - focus on the label - silk screen print and hand painting (to individualise each can?)
- Different flavours (32 on offer at time)
- Flat, graphic, lack of modelling (only small reflection on top) - like mechanically reproduced (also repression) - ref to world of industry and commerce
- Appropriated image - not Warhol's original artwork
- Want to 'be a machine' - lightly challenging world of commerce and mass production by drawing our attention to its characteristics - not offering comment - think for selves - act of control?? Glenn, wiki
- Obvious unlike most fine art - no deep meaning (Broudy) - understood by everyday viewer - status?? or two dimensionality
- Pricing - jump from mass produced commodity to ££££ - through recontextualisation - what has changed? same aesthetic. Maybe aim of work? from something 2D to something that challenges the 2D thing - still 2D?
- Swanger - shift from non art to art
- Why does Warhol have more status than the creator of the original soup label? Simply copying? - Read
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