Damien Hirst - TREASURES FROM THE WRECK OF THE UNBELIEVABLE
- Lucy Archer
- May 10, 2017
- 1 min read
When looking at Damien Hirst, I focused on this exhibition at Venice ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’, which was 10 years in the making. Hirst has filled two museums with hundreds of objects in marble, gold and bronze, crystal, jade and malachite – heroes, gods and leviathans all supposedly lost in a legendary shipwreck 2,000 years ago and now raised from the Indian Ocean at Hirst’s personal expense. The atmosphere surrounding the exhibition is filled with the question of belief. Sometimes the object may be familiar and sometimes utterly implausible, like the horned skull of a unicorn. Each is exquisitely made, and intended to inspire the awe and wonder or perhaps even shock of ancient civilisations. His work relates to my current practice through the element of storytelling and myth. Hirst appears to have a similar enthusiasm is I when it comes to portraying an event or story alongside the work, bringing more life and meaning to each piece.
