Hirst
For the Love of God
published in the The Telegraph 1 June 2007
copyright and photographer unattributed

I have been intrigued by the idea of ‘For the Love of God’ ever since I first heard of it. I was curious about the meaning that Hirst intended it to convey, or whether there was any meaning at all. I was curious how it looked too; the description of the large pink fancy emphasizing the ‘third eye’ sounded cliched.

Those questions returned when I eventually saw a photo of it and the large pink fancy is obviously a cliche. The grin, like a pirate’s Jolly Roger, was a surprise. Questions naturally lead to speculation and opinions but I put these to one side as interesting things to delve into for another time. It seemed like an interesting piece for a quick blog article – mistakenly, for whichever way I look at this piece, it points in yet another direction – more, other, different, questions and ways of looking at it and thinking about it came to mind; I’m sure that I’ve barely scratched the surface of what it could be about.

One of the first things you notice amongst the volume of material online about Hirst, is the comparative rarity of interviews and none I’ve read actually ask ‘Ok Damien, what’s your grinning skull about then?’ There is plenty of comment about the piece elsewhere but the absence of quotes by Hirst about the thoughts that inform it, lead me to consider it in relation to the rest of his body of works for any clues that might be relevant – especially as ‘Art’ can be a vehicle to communicate concepts that are difficult to express in language.

There are more images and the opinions of people (English and Netherlands) who have seen ‘For the Love of God’ at The Rijksmuseum’s Universe of opinions on www.fortheloveofgod.nl

Each of the following extracts are taken from interviews that irritatingly assume a familiarity with his body of work. They are by different authors and span a period of 5 years; they have been selected for the glimmers of insight they reveal about the backstory to his works. The second interview includes mention of a ‘standardised biography of the artefact’ that was almost overlooked; it consists of a list of associations.

Interview: Damien Hirst
Waldemar Januszczak
The Sunday Times
August 24, 2003

Before Damien Hirst came along, nobody queued to see contemporary art. I was there.

I remember the lack of public interest absolutely vividly. Then Damien unveiled his boxed sharks and his divided cows and suddenly Brit art was as newsworthy as Posh and Becks.

‘I’ve always thought you have to get people listening to you before you can change their minds,’ he explains. The pickled sharks, the expiring flies, the sliced-up pigs, are intent on getting themselves noticed, sure, but once they’ve done that, the message they seek to convey is a charmingly old-fashioned one. Life is short and precious. Death is dark and inevitable.

[This article interweaves biography and art career with material from the interview. Extract taken from page 4]

To die for
By Will Self
The Telegraph
Last Updated: 5:56PM BST 01 Jun 2007

Transparencies of his new show, Beyond Belief, are dealt on to the lightbox like a hand of cards, together with some discards: ‘This is called The Forgiveness, it was called Jacob’s Ladder, it’s like a fly cabinet piece – it’s not in the show. This is Fear of Flying, it’s going to be a foetus suspended from a shark – I am going to make it but not for this show…’ He breaks off and exclaims, ‘What is it with the animals!’ Then kicks the proposition around again, for the umpteenth time, worrying it like a terrier with his staccato, bitten-off pronouncements, speaking first of the menageries on his Devon farm, then animadverting: ‘I just like it when the outside comes inside, like green mould in a ruined house… It’s good to make people have empathy with meat… It’s like a portrait… no, a blank canvas: they don’t want to see a face on it – apart from pork with an apple in its mouth.’

And to me Hirst says, ‘It works better than I thought it would.’ He always talks about his stuff working or not; and now he runs through a standardised biography of the artefact – his mother serving on a jewellery stall in Leeds’s covered market; his childhood realisation of the stones’ totemic significance: pure beauty as ultimate wealth; his acknowledgement of what others’ might think – only to end up saying, with a desperate edge: ‘It’s the maximum I can throw against death; perhaps that’s crass, to pit money against death, but it all depends on what it does visually.’

[Self viewed 'For the Love of God' with Hirst and describes his reactions. This article places Hirst in the wider context of Lambeth and (some of) that area's artistic legacy. It also includes the political climate of the 'Glory Years' (mid to late 90's). This brief summary is unable to convey the breadth of content and the glimpses of Hirst that appear through the way it is written. I would suggest this as an introductory article as it was the easiest to follow and also an enjoyable read.]

Damien Hirst with his sculpture 'The Golden Calf'
published in The Independent 20 June 2008

Damien Hirst
By Anthony Haden-Guest
interviewmagazine.com
26 November 08

AHG: The main piece in the auction was The Golden Calf. And you had a drawing that went with it saying “Beware False Idols!” I wondered, were you trying to pull the temple down? And then I thought, No.

DH: It works on many levels. I was working on cow things, and mad cow disease came out, and it became very topical and very of the moment. It’s kind of a happy accident. But it makes it all the more important. So I had an idea to do The Golden Calf. I knew we needed a big piece to kind of pull the whole exhibition together. And then when you think about all the references to the art market, and the stock market, and cash, and belief, and everything, and religion kind of falling apart . . . All of those things made me realize that was definitely the right thing to do. But I never go for a complete obvious meaning and say, “Right, that’s the way I want it to look.” It’s always just lots and lots of universal triggers. And when it’s a combination of all the ideas, it feels right. So I go ahead with it. And the gold! I mean, rather than avoiding it, go with it! Especially since I was aware that I’ve got to come up with something to match the diamond skull.

[This interview presents the most coherent and extensive quotes from Hirst on a range of topics including business, career, originality, direction and attitude towards art. It appears to be a verbatim record of a conversation and the topics seemed to skip around, which I found difficult to follow at times, however it was worth the effort. Extract taken from page 3.]