Pulling The Wool

PETE Doherty is an inspiration. And to our mind, it is he who has inspired artist Damien Hirst to “new heights of creativity or new depths of crudity”.

The Mail takes a look at the artist’s latest offering, rubs its chin and wonders what it should make of it all.

For your information, the piece, entitled The Tranquillity of Solitude (For George Dryer) features a shorn sheep sat on a toilet. There’s a hypodermic syringe jabbed into its leg. The animal’s head it thrown back in an expression of what the Mail takes to be a “scream of agony” but others may see as a euphoric release.

The Mail says the work is inspired by paintings by artist Francis Bacon for his lover George Dryer. The Mail says Dryer was found dead on the toilet, having taken a dose of heroin.

And not everyone is impressed by it. David Lee, editor of The Jackdaw art magazine, calls it “utterly insignificant”. The Mail’s art critic, Robin Simon, calls it “boring”.

Which is presumably why the Mail sees fit to feature the worthless and dull work over an entire page, in full and glorious colour.

Surely the critics and the paper have missed the point. We are unsure what their point is but pretty certain the paper and experts have missed it.

And expect it has something to do with Pete Doherty and what might have occurred onboard an easyJet flight to Barcelona…

Posted: 22nd, June 2006 | In: Tabloids Comment | TrackBack | Permalink