The Ups and Downs of Becoming a Symbol of Your Era

It seems like forever ago now that art world pundits were gobsmacked by the recession-mocking success of Damien Hirst's direct-to-auction sale of what (at least, for most other artists) looked like a life-time of inventory. Seemingly destined to become synonymous with the boom art market itself, Mr. Hirst's sale spawned predictions that, in retrospect, bring to mind the joke about the fortune cookie that read "Your strength lies in your continued belief that what you just ate was indeed duck." Predictions such as:

A statement by Hirst said that “the future looks great for everyone”. Ollie Barker, the Sotheby's specialist who helped to plan the sale and was the auctioneer, said that his team was overwhelmed by the response and was expecting further artist-led auctions.

“We don't know where this is going to lead to in the future. This company is 250 years old and this is the first time we've worked with a living artist in this way but it is bound to present further opportunities.”

But it hasn't taken long for the hero of New Bond Street to reap the rewards that seem to always await the symbols of one's own era, especially when it all goes pear shaped: Mr. Hirst has become "the" art world target in this winter of discontent.

From Madrid, we hear of Eugenio Merino's tasteless statement:

Spanish artist Eugenio Merino shocked visitors at ARCO, the Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, with a graphic sculpture that shows art world bad-boy Damien Hirst shooting himself in the head, Bloomberg reports.

"Hirst is always trying to think of ways to make his art the most expensive," the artist told Bloomberg. "If he killed himself, then the value of his art would increase a lot."

The work, called For the Love of Gold, in a riff on Hirst's $100 million diamond-and-platinum skull called For the Love of God, shows the artist kneeling with a Colt 45 pressed against his temple. The silicone figure uses real human hair and glass eyes and is wearing a skull T-shirt. It's housed inside a tank similar to the ones Hirst has used for his works that preserve animals in formaldehyde.

See here for an image.

And from England, even more backlash:

A collective of British artists has come to the aid of Cartrain, a 16-year-old artist who was forced to forfeit £200 ($284) in profit to Damien Hirst after the art-world superstar threatened to sue the teenager over the use of an image of Hirst's diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God.

According to the Independent, the creators of the Web site Red Rag to a Bull, who include Jimmy Cauty, a former member of the band The KLF; Jamie Reid, the designer of the cover for the Sex Pistols' God Save the Queen single; and artist Billy Childish, have produced a series of limited-edition prints that mock Hirst's copyright claims to the diamond skull.

"Unlike Cartrain and his gallery, we are not intimidated by lawyers, and if an injunction is issued, we will simply ignore it on the grounds of freedom of speech," Cauty wrote to the Independent.

The prints, grouped under the title For the Love of Disruptive Strategies and Utopian Visions in Contemporary Art and Culture, include various depictions of the infamous skull. One of them shows a man with the skull for his head reading a book titled A Guide to Copyright and Intellectual Property Law.

See here for some images.

The collective does offer this disclaimer, mind you:

"We would like to point out... that although this appeal was focused on the Hirst vs Cartrain episode, it was intended to be a creative exercise that mocked and exposed the idiocy [of] an overbearing and thoughtless approach to copyright control that creates fear and censorship in the arts," the creators wrote. "It was and is not a critical crusade against Damien Hirst as an artist or the nature and degree of his success."

...suggesting it's not the man or his art that's being targeted, but rather what he's come to symbolize. Then again, Jamie Reid was quoted as calling Hirst a "hypocritical and greedy art bully," so there is a bit of personal resentment at play in all this.

I'm sure Damien can brush off the feedback; he built his empire on sheer grit and street smarts. Then again, the downturn is still young.