Tuesday, May 22, 2012

"Hirst like an absolute ruler must be utterly surrounded by a court of yes-people . . ."

If Hirst did not try to paint an orange accurately, no one would know he can't do it. But he has tried, at least I think it's an orange, and the poor sphere seems to float in mid air because of the clumsy circle of shadow below it. For a moment I thought this was intentional, then I realised it was a competence issue. Such issues abound. You look at a branch and it is obvious he has worked at it: equally obvious the work was wasted. At their very best these paintings lack the skill of thousands of amateur artists who paint at weekends all over Britain – and yet he can hire fools to compare him with Caravaggio.
The Guardian (Link.)

Ouch.

1 comment:

Pete said...

The "overpraised child" remark is certainly spot on. I think that the nose-thumbing bad boy, and the tounge-clucking defender of taste are in more of a symbiotic relationship than they'd care to admit, though.