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Last Chance to catch Damien Hirst exhibition
2010-10-19 16:11
What Damien Hirst's Cornucopia
Where Oceanographic Museum, Monaco
When 2 April to 30 September 2010
Appropriately enough for the artist one of whose first and most controversial works is a pickled shark, Damien Hirst is currently mounting his latest exhibition at Monaco's world-famous Museum of Oceanography as part of that institution's centenary celebration, from 2 April to 30 September.
The six-month-long exhibition has been drawing large numbers - and these are expected to increase to 500,000 as the exhibition enters its final days.
Over sixty paintings and sculptures are on display as part of his Cornucopia exhibition, including a number of cabinets of human skulls, displayed in as if in a museum. The only difference with these ones is that they are plastic and painted in psychedelic swirls. Hirst's fascination with human anatomy as well as that of fish is well known: his piece 'For the Love of God', a diamond-encrusted skull, is one of the world's most valuable contemporary art works.
The biggest draw of the exhibit, though, has undoubtedly been the sharks. There are two on display, both new pieces modelled on Hirst's original, 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the mind of Someone Living'. One of them, 'The Immortal', is a Great White, suspended in 24,000 litres of formaldehyde, a massive 30-tonne object that required special strengthening of the floor of the museum.
Another, on display at the entrance to the museum, is a hammerhead shark, similarly suspended, in a work called 'Fear of Flying' I wonder what the Oceanographic Museum's prize exhibit, a 150,000,000-year-old ichthyosaur called Anna, will have to say about her neighbours?
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An interesting footnote: many of Britain's most celebrated artists are concerned about the present government's proposed 50% tax on high earners, and several - including Tracy Emin - have been considering a move to France. Speculation has been rife that the exhibition, which is the artist's first in Monaco, may also give Hirst the opportunity for a little house-hunting in the region.