Thursday, January 29, 2009

Charles Darwin gets a Hirst re- brand

Charles Darwin's Origin of the Species is now 150th years old and a special edition is due for release next month. Damien Hirst gets the cover honor

Hirst in his own words [the Guardian]:

The painting sits firmly in the tradition of "still life" and is made up of objects I've come to imbue with my own meanings, some of them Darwinian in origin, and that I guess are seen in other areas of my work. The painting has an X-ray-like quality to it, as if it is revealing something about the structure of the objects painted.

I suppose the work, in a modest way, acknowledges Darwin's analytical mind and his courage to believe in those ideas that questioned the very fabric of existence and belief in his time.


Discuss amongst yourselves. It's a very Schnabel moment - smirk.


Image: Copyright Damien Hirst 2009
hat tip: phronesisaical

3 comments:

Steven LaRose said...

I thought this was a page from Ross Bleckner's sketchbook. . .

oh well.

My word verification is "undedn" which sounds like:
Undead and. . .

highlowbetween said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
highlowbetween said...

personally I can think of much better choices but they want to sell some books. I guess this helps? It may add to the 'satanic' nature of the book itself here stateside.