Beyond Belief

For the Love of God, 2007, Silkscreen print on paper

The Man of the British art scene is back. For the Love of God, the diamond encrusted skull worth an estimated 50 million pounds was splashed all over the press last weekend. But does this exhibition live up to the sensation of Damien Hirst’s previous work? Julie Pallot finds out.

Split over the two White Cube galleries, I took two days to visit both exhibitions. Starting off at the Hoxton opening on Saturday afternoon I queued with my complimentary Ashai beer, surrounded by ironic casualties of the New Rave fashion trend.
Once inside, I was greeted by a typical post modernist farmyard nightmare.
The martyrdom of St Sebastian is recreated in the form of a dead bullock neatly encased in formaldehyde with a barrage of arrows protruding from its strung up corpse.
The image is more heart rending than anything else.  Its sad furry face flopped to one side, eyes closed, reminding me of when Alsan the lion died in the Chronicles of Narnia.
Works such as this, a conversion of Renaissance subject matter into a three-dimensional format have become a major part of Hirst’s recent work and very much the focus of his last exhibition here.
The two other major pieces in this Hoxton show are a humorously grizzly take on the Adoration of Christ, with the roles of the three kings taken by a skinned sheep along with an arrangement of crucified goats all creating a triptych altarpiece at the back of the room.
The main bulk of his work was at St James’s, which I visited on the Sunday.
 In a quasi-scientific theme a periodic table takes up one wall of the huge main atrium and in typical Hirst style, cabinets containing animal skeletons and dead fish are placed around. I felt as if I  had wandered into the stuffed animal exhibit in a small town museum. 
A man eater of a shark dissected length ways is one of the best bits of this room, again, nothing particularly new here, but impressive all the same.  
But however similar these works are to prvious shows, there are things in Hirst’s focus that have changed.
Something that is different is that Hirst has turned his eye to painting as much as to pickling carcasses in tidy minimalist cubes.
The Biopsy Paintings are images of cancers taken from science books and blown up on canvases. Varnished over with broken glass, razor blades and strands of hair the sickening blend becomes something horrifically attractive. Although admittedly I would have to think hard before I put one in my living room, these are powerful works.
Yet the real shocker in this exhibition is the sudden departure from his satirically morbid attitude in another series of paintings : Birth Paintings. Breaking up the heavy stuff, these are family portraitures of his wife and baby taken through the birthing process.  Has Damien gone soft?
No – its fine, there are still some graphic mid caesarian images to chew over.
Finally the ‘bling’ human skull that everyone has been making such a fuss about was indeed an enthralling experience.
Escorted in by security guards, we were shown in 10 at a time -  and only allowed five minutes in the room -  making this really feel like a personal encounter with a very rare object. 
In the same group as myself was Jeffrey Archer. 
Hirst says that  For the Love of God explores the relationship between art and money.
 I’m sure Mr. Archer was there to do just that.


Beyond Belief : 1 June—7 July 2007
To see the skull, visitors must reserve a time-slot by obtaining a free ticket from www.whitecube-tickets.com or in person at the Mason’s Yard branch of the gallery

The other exhibits do not require a reservation


Mason's Yard Site
 25-26 Mason’s Yard (Off Duke Street) St. James’s London SW1Y 6BU
 Tel: 020 7930 5373
 Open: 10 – 6pm Tuesday – Saturday

Hoxton Square SIte
 48 Hoxton Square London N1 6PB
 Tel: 020 7930 5373
Open: 10 – 6pm Tuesday – Saturday
 

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