{"id":2500,"date":"2008-09-20T20:27:59","date_gmt":"2008-09-21T00:27:59","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/?p=2500"},"modified":"2008-09-20T20:27:59","modified_gmt":"2008-09-21T00:27:59","slug":"dreams-of-sugar-skulls-and-rotting-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/dreams-of-sugar-skulls-and-rotting-sharks","title":{"rendered":"Dreams of sugar skulls and rotting sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"

In Unrequired Reading<\/em> last week, I posted Clive Crook’s praise for Damien Hirst<\/a>, who is auctioning off some of his “art” in the biggest auction ever for a living artist, or something. Crook didn’t praise Hirst’s art qua art; rather, he praised Hirst’s ability to get stupid rich people to blow millions on his products:<\/p>\n

I am a huge admirer of Damien Hirst. Not of the art, which is rubbish, but of the sheer productivity and exuberance he brings to his life’s work of fleecing rich idiots. “Oh Damien, you’re a genius. Screw me over again.” “Why not,” he says, munching a bacon butty.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Art critic Robert Hughes is less cheery about this prospect<\/a>. It’s not that he feels badly for the rich people who are spending multimillions on Hirst’s work; rather, he has a more conventional pissed-off-edness about what Hirst’s products say about contemporary art:<\/p>\n

If there is anything special about this event, it lies in the extreme disproportion between Hirst’s expected prices and his actual talent. Hirst is basically a pirate, and his skill is shown by the way in which he has managed to bluff so many art-related people, from museum personnel such as Tate’s Nicholas Serota to billionaires in the New York real-estate trade, into giving credence to his originality and the importance of his “ideas”. This skill at manipulation is his real success as an artist. He has manoeuvred himself into the sweet spot where wannabe collectors, no matter how dumb (indeed, the dumber the better), feel somehow ignorable without a Hirst or two.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Which is to say, give Hughes a read<\/a>, too!<\/p>\n

(I gotta get around to reading his memoirs<\/a>\"\" sometime. . .)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

In Unrequired Reading last week, I posted Clive Crook’s praise for Damien Hirst, who is auctioning off some of his “art” in the biggest auction ever for a living artist, or something. Crook didn’t praise Hirst’s art qua art; rather, he praised Hirst’s ability to get stupid rich people to blow millions on his products: … <\/p>\n

Continue reading “Dreams of sugar skulls and rotting sharks”<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paywalled_content":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[22,27],"tags":[341,331,340],"class_list":["post-2500","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-art","category-big-business","tag-clive-crook","tag-damien-hirst","tag-robert-hughes"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p4C7K-Ek","jetpack_likes_enabled":true,"jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":5661,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-october-15-2010","url_meta":{"origin":2500,"position":0},"title":"Unrequired Reading: October 15, 2010","author":"Gil","date":"October 15, 2010","format":false,"excerpt":"This collection of links comes to you courtesy of the matrix of Twitter, Google Reader and Instapaper! Enjoy! @sportsguy33: using 3,844 words to explain an accidental tweet that was 12 characters long. #brevityfail * * * Who's in the honor roll at the School of Boom Goes the Dynamite? *\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":2483,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/unrequired-reading-sept-19-2008","url_meta":{"origin":2500,"position":1},"title":"Unrequired Reading: Sept. 19, 2008","author":"Gil","date":"September 19, 2008","format":false,"excerpt":"Get yo' links on. Just click mo'. Meet me at the corner of Art and Commerce, Mr. Hirst. * * * Now that we're done watching The Wire, I can finally start reading interviews and articles about it! Here's Nick Hornby interviewing co-creator David Simon. * * * But enough\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":8697,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-117-vernissage","url_meta":{"origin":2500,"position":2},"title":"Episode 117 – Vernissage","author":"Gil","date":"May 4, 2015","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show: Jonah Kinigstein - Vernissage \"Everybody was looking for the next van Gogh . . . so that opened up the space for anybody who put two sticks together to be a sculptor, or two dabs of paint on a canvas to be a painter: 'Don't miss him!\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2206-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2206-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2206-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2206-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/IMG_2206-2-scaled.jpeg?fit=1200%2C900&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":14637,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-447-peter-schjeldahl","url_meta":{"origin":2500,"position":3},"title":"Episode 447 – Peter Schjeldahl","author":"Gil","date":"August 9, 2021","format":false,"excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 447: Peter Schjeldahl \"My job is to give people something to read that is enjoyable and in some other way perhaps worth reading. It's almost not about the art; it's about the concentration, the absorption.\" I traveled up to the Catskills this weekend for a round of\u2026","rel":"","context":"In \"Ada Calhoun\"","block_context":{"text":"Ada Calhoun","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/tag\/ada-calhoun"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/schjeldahlcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C571&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/schjeldahlcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C571&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/schjeldahlcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C571&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/schjeldahlcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C571&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/schjeldahlcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C571&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15610,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-510-jerry-saltz","url_meta":{"origin":2500,"position":4},"title":"Episode 510 – Jerry Saltz","author":"Gil","date":"November 1, 2022","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 510: Jerry Saltz \"I never stepped back. I always felt caught right in the middle of the hurricane \u2014 in the best sense of the word to the most terrifying \u2014 from 2001, when everyone said everything changed.\" Pulitzer Prize-winning art critic Jerry Saltz joins the show\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/saltzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/saltzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/saltzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/saltzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/saltzcomp.jpg?fit=1200%2C480&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]},{"id":17351,"url":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/episode-625-jonathan-ames","url_meta":{"origin":2500,"position":5},"title":"Episode 625 – Jonathan Ames","author":"Gil","date":"February 11, 2025","format":"audio","excerpt":"Virtual Memories Show 625: Jonathan Ames \"My primary reading for a while now has been private detective novels and various Buddhist philosophical tests. So when Happy expounds on these things, in a way it's that I love reading these sorts of books.\" Can LA private detective Happy Doll live up\u2026","rel":"","context":"In "Art"","block_context":{"text":"Art","link":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/category\/art"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/ames2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C637&resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/ames2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C637&resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/ames2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C637&resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/ames2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C637&resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-content\/uploads\/ames2025comp.jpg?fit=1200%2C637&resize=1050%2C600 3x"},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2500"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2501,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2500\/revisions\/2501"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2500"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2500"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/chimeraobscura.com\/vm\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2500"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}