Dominion @ Newport Street Gallery

[SFBM]

Looks like Hirst’s son is curating a show at Newport Street Gallery - opening on Thursday this week. All welcome with a free poster on opening night.

[thisisthesam]

I'm at a wedding so can't make this sadly. If someone could grab me a poster I'd love you forever.

[met]

May 21, 2024 11:20:45 GMT 1 SFBM said:

Looks like Hirst’s son is curating a show at Newport Street Gallery - opening on Thursday this week. All welcome with a free poster on opening night.

Thank you for posting about Dominion.

Cheers as well to Acme Thunderer for a separate thread* on the topic.

Without these two threads, I might have been oblivious that the exhibition was even running.


__________


It took me a few months to get my act together, but I finally managed to visit on the last day: Sunday, 1 September.

Very pleased to have done so.



With the entire Murderme Collection at his disposal, the curation was always going to be difficult to botch, and I thought Connor Hirst did a good job:

Around 80 pieces selected for the show; for the most part, complementarily-displayed alongside one another; with each artwork given plenty of its own space.




Left: Dan Colen, Holy Shit, 2006; Right: Richard Prince, Hurricane Nurse, 2004


Marcus Harvey - Left: Jess on the Toilet, 2004; Right: Myra, 1995


I was previously unaware that Myra by Marcus Harvey is now owned by Damien Hirst.

It is among the few pieces that are capable of epitomising the Young British Artists / YBA movement.

[Other works with the requisite status or notoriety to hold the mantle would include Tracey Emin's My Bed and Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.]



For the benefit of anyone who may be uninitiated — including those who are not up‑to‑speed on British crime, or never bothered to research the background to their Sonic Youth album covers — Myra is based on an iconic 1965 police photo of Myra Hindley. She was notorious for her role in the Moors murders*, child killings that eventually led to the first serial murder trial to be held after the death penalty was suspended in Great Britain.

The entire 3.4 x 2.7 metre painting consists of small handprints that were apparently created from casts of an infant's hand.

In 1997, the inclusion of this piece in the Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy of Arts in London caused outrage. There were accusations (by politicians, sections of the press, members of the public, and a children's safety charity) of exploitation. A few Academicians resigned in protest. The show was picketed, including by the mother of one of the child victims whose remains were never found. The museum was vandalised, and the painting itself was twice vandalised.

The level of nationwide controversy that Myra caused at the time has been compared to the reactions to Andres Serrano's 1987 photograph, Immersion (Piss Christ).




Left: Zhang Haiying, Anti‑vice series 2008‑12, 2008; Centre: Francis Bacon, Crucifixion, 1933; Right: Banksy, Madonna and Child, 2003


Note the name of the above painting by Banksy.

I am ignorant about whether this was the original title from the outset, at the Turf War show in 2003. Anyone have access to an old price list?

As is not‑infrequently the case with Banksys, the work may have been later rechristened by the artist, perhaps even at the request of Hirst.

Either way, Madonna and Child is in my view a far stronger title than those given to the screenprint of the same image — whether Virgin Mary or, alternatively, Toxic Mary.




Sarah Lucas - Left (on pedestal): 1‑123‑123‑12‑12, 1992; Centre: Where Does It All End?, 1994; Right: Fighting Fire with Fire (6 Pack), 1997


Sarah Lucas, Where Does It All End?, 1994


Left: Jeff Koons, Girl with Dolphin and Monkey, 2009; Right: Banksy, Stop & Search Basquiat, 2019


Note the 2019 date for the Banksy, being two years after the street piece was painted by the Barbican Centre in London.



While already familiar with the Jeff Koons as an online image, I never paid much attention to it (despite being a huge fan of Bettie Page, and a tendency to drop my guard whenever I meet anyone with a Bettie Page haircut).

But nor had I ever seen the artwork before in person.

And it ended up being the surprise of the show for me. Only up‑close can one fully appreciate the technical skill required to paint some of the components, including the inflatable monkey, bra, long‑sleeved gloves, panties and stockings. This was among the best examples of oil‑on‑canvas photorealism that I've come across in years.

Kudos to the HR Department at the Koons factory, for its hiring choices of artist assistants.








Girl with Dolphin and Monkey (details)


Finally, below was one of my favourite pieces in the show:

Giraffe, a painted bronze by Gavin Turk.



Just in case there is a member who might not have been following the contemporary art scene recently, the sculpture is derivative of and references Comedian — a real banana from an edition of three that Maurizio Cattelan duct‑taped to a wall at Art Basel Miami Beach in 2019.

Pricing for the two Cattelans that were available for sale? $120,000 apiece.




Gavin Turk, Giraffe, 2021


For any non‑Brits who are puzzled by the title, the term "giraffe" is Cockney-rhyming slang for "laugh".

As in, "You're having a laugh!" or "You must be joking!" — a separate reference to the original Cattelan edition, and this time to its title.