Wednesday, April 26, 2017

Art to See in Venice

All those who enter Damien Hirst's latest exhibition in Venice, you'd better believe it! 

Damien Hirst is one of the most famous and richest living artists, whose career began in the 90s and since then, he has never stopped baffling the world of contemporary art with his daring exhibitions and takes on life and death. Named "the bad boy" of British art, he has been quiet for the past decade but that was because he has been working on his newest presentation which opened in Venice on the 9th of April and will last until 3rd December. 


"Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable" is so enormous that it actually occupies two locations: Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, buildings own by the billionaire, art collector and Christie's owner Francois Pinault. 

The bold exhibition presents a sea fantasy at a fantastical scale and it even comes with a back story: the objects presented, 189 of them, come from a ship that sank 2,000 years ago. They are made of different materials, ranging from marble to silver, "belonging" to Greek, Aztec, Roman, Japanese or contemporary culture. Hirst's team even filmed this discoveries to make everything believable but, the ambiguity is always there when you look at the objects: are they more than 2,000 years old, being covered with corals, or were they created just a few years ago? 

The most impressive piece of work is his 18 meter high black statue "Demon with Bowl" that has you wonder how anyone would manage to get it inside the building. 

Even if people seem to either love or hate his exhibitions, I can truly say it was a privilege to see this incredible presentation of a genius who makes you believe the unbelievable and who has spent millions of dollars from his own pocket to do just that... until his collection is auctioned next year :) 


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