I’m going to ignore the current drama around the personalities and macro economics of the current Damien Hirst exhibitions currently on display at Gagosian. Instead I’m going to focus on the work itself, I know it’s an odd choice for an art review.
Anytime you develop a show (even a show in a single gallery space) there are going to be great artworks and lesser artworks. The shows at the two downtown Gagosians don’t change this fact in the least. When these paintings work they are impressive and when they don’t, it’s equally unimpressive. And unfortunately a few of the stinkers are the biggest (size-wise) of the show.
What I find working for me is the optical nature of these works as well as the conceptual nature of the works. The titling of these images after chemicals, more precisely pharmaceuticals, works to bring these images full circle. The more successful of these images are the more densely built images offering a more rewarding viewing experience via the visual push pull of the image. Thes owe as much to Hans Hoffman as they do with the artist who is most often referenced in relation to Hirst; Warhol. In fact these more engaging works pull and push your eyes leaving you a bit disoriented. These images with titles like, LSD and Prochlorperazine push and pull as much with the titles of the work as they do the viewer (LSD being a Psychotropic while Prochlorperazine is a Neuroleptic).
The lesser paintings are the ones that seem to pare themselves down by fewer spots and larger surfaces, these paintings in particular are almost a pistache of the other paintings. They often seem to be about the artist rather than the image – and this is the fine line that Hirst is forced to walk with his work. It is when this line is crossed the work fails, usually impressively so.
Endnote: A number of people have spoken of the rules of the spot paintings – everything is to be a certain distance apart, colors never duplicated, etc. I have found evidence in just one of the galleries at Gagosian to pretty much determine all of these rules are wrong. They do however expand the hype around the images in some strange way.
Image: Detail of Zirconyl Chloride, 2008 Household gloss on canvas 84 inches diameter (213.4 cm)