Avocado Land

by Thomas

Damien Hirst has another auction coming up September 15 and 16 in London. This time he is working directly with Sotheby's auction house rather than through his usual dealer, Jay Jopling, and his long term gallery, the Gagosian. Cheyenne Westphal, chairman of contemporary art for Sotheby’s Europe, says Mr Hirst will "often break the boundaries of how things can be done. This show will open up all kinds of questions. Are other artists going to take notice? I would think so.” He is expected to raise over 65 million pounds, benefiting charities of his choice.

Tight, together. Yay, auctions. As Damien Hirst put it, this is a “very democratic way to sell art." Just wonderful. Most of his pieces are in formaldehyde. He likes this medium. One of his pieces called "Bill and Shark," is based on a picture of Bill Gates with one of his shark pieces. It will benefit the Bill and Melinda Gates foundation.


I realize that I have a little trouble rejecting Hollywood movies. However, I am seeing the trouble and the limitations of some genres, and in ways, Hollywood itself. The golden section is an excellent dramatic tool in many art forms, especially in something that takes hours to experience, as does a feature-length film. I enjoyed the cartoons you sent me, but I guess I get a little caught up in the fact that everyone is broad shouldered and very muscular. It looks funky when every grown man looks like he weighs between 200 and 330 pounds and can bench about 400. But I get what you are saying about the characterization of Joker. Why stop at Jack and Heath? The most recent film gets so caught up in the battle for Gotham's soul, that I lose track of it in the recapitulation and denouement.

I still want to shoot the scene with the dimly lit grocery store. I still want the kid with the tighter clothing and the potato chips to look innocent.

I have pieces in my mind that are not supposed to fit together. Maybe things shouldn't fit together so well as they do. Maybe things should make you uneasy without asking questions, without pressuring you to make a choice, to take a side. Maybe we reach a little more interesting note by getting rid of the choice, by taking away the options.

Maybe D.H. stops with the animals in formaldehyde stuff. Maybe he doesn't, and continues to push his boundaries about as far as I have been from Athens. Maybe he doesn't care that he's aggravating me.

I listened to a guy play clarinet the other day. He was really good. He's really talented for anyone, especially someone his age. Wow. Then I started noticing, that hey, there wasn't much to his playing. Yeah, he messed a few notes (though, his mess-ups sounded really nice for most player's on passages), but I don't think it was because he was taking chances on stuff. That's fine, though. You don't need to take chances.

Honestly, Damien Hirst is probably contributing economically to his world the most he possibly can. But is that the only responsibility of an artist? Is he challenging his audience. Forget about the status quo, forget about picking sides or offering options. Is he communicating something? Does it matter if an artist communicates?