"Damien Steven Hirst, the world's richest artist ($332 million according to Britain's Sunday Times), full-time businessman, part time art-collector, sometime restaurateur, P.T. Barnum imitator, and most famous member of the Young British Artists (or YBAs), a creative covey who came to prominence in the 1990s, died last Thursday, January 12, in New York following complications from acute diverticulitis.."
Apparently this columnist wasn't a fan. He continues:
"...brought on by a swinishly speculative, grossly cynical, intellectually constipated effort to pinch out 11 concurrent exhibitions of rehashed expensive crap. He was 46."
Hirst is probably most famous for his somewhat iconic "The Physical Impossibility of Death", a large installment/sculpture, essentially a tiger shark floating in formaldehyde. This theme of death and preservation flowed through his work and was a major influence in the visuals for the movie, The Cell, in particular, the scene in which a horse is seemingly sliced into sections that are still disturbingly alive.
The other piece he is most known for is of a human skull encrusted with diamonds. Entitled "For the Love of God" after his mother asked him, "For the love of God, what are you going to do next?". Obviously go big or go home. Dubbed "the most expensive piece of art ever", the real human skull is covered in real diamonds, it created a dual controversy by garnering a huge price at auction which was undoubtedly helped by questions of the skull's origins.
Love the guy or hate him, he left his mark, and that's always the artist's end goal. On a personal note, yeah, he was one year younger than me.
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