Related Artist Research
Chiharu Shiota
Born in Osaka in 1972, she now lives in Berlin. Her work explores the profound themes of human life, death and relationships, exploring the meaning of existence through large-scale installations that include commonly used objects and souvenirs, as well as paintings, sculptures, photographs and videos.
The first time I remember Chiharu Shiota's work was in her 2002 work "Between the Sleep" at the Kunstmuseum Lucerne in Switzerland: in an empty room, 24 women sleep casually and peacefully on a clean, pure white bed, bringing a sense of peace and quiet. But in this tranquil space, there is a jumble of black threads that cross, twist and connect the beds where the 24 women lie, giving the room a sense of unease and even fear.In the contrast between tranquillity and fear, neatness and clutter, white and black, there is a vague sense of the classic phrase from Fear and Trembling The words - "Only for the restless can there be peace".
If it were a work of art, we would wonder "what exactly is the artist trying to say in this way? What do the black lines, the bed, the sleeping woman in the work represent?" But in Shiota Chiharu's case, these questions are almost irrelevant. At this point, it doesn't matter whether you understand the specific meaning of her work or not, because she has already touched your sensory system through the aura of her work.
For the casual viewer, the works of Chiharu Shiota consistently do not need to be deeply understood. It does not affect the extension of your thoughts and feelings. In her works, she often uses unique, visual images to attract the viewer's attention, leading them into the work, and then through some small elements in the work to tell or listen to the viewer's feelings. At the moment, the viewer can naturally enter her work without any preliminary research, whether it is a performance or an installation, and Chiharu Shiota's work has always had such magic.
Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst (also known as "Damien Hirst", "Damien Hirst", 7 June 1965) was born in Bristol and is one of the leading figures of young British artists.
Hirst was interested in the finite nature of living organisms. His series Natural History, in which he immersed animal carcasses in a solution of formaldehyde, is extremely well known. His signature work is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, an 18-foot tiger shark preserved in a glass case with formaldehyde.
Hirst rarely explains the meaning of The Living Are Indifferent to the Dead, so art critics and scholars alike have attempted to analyse the work's intent. Art critics such as Salman Khan, Stephan Juck and Beth Harris believe that the work is a 'confrontation with death', as the living cannot fully understand it, and that the work is presenting a dead shark to the viewer. At the same time, they argue that Hirst's attempts to preserve the shark in formaldehyde solution, which eventually deteriorated, were not a lack of design, but rather an attempt to show how flesh and blood cannot escape the inevitability of death. Art scholar Luke Way refers to the work as an attempt to bring out the dichotomy between nature and capitalism, arguing that the shark is an intimidating animal and represents people's fear of not being able to master nature. Under capitalism, people are given wealth and their lives are secured. However, people are still unable to fully overcome the threat of natural disasters, just as viewers are still surprised by the sharks in the work. Art critic Roberta Smith argues the opposite, saying that the shark is a frightening creature, but when the viewer finds out that the shark is dead, they feel less intimidated by it, and it is intended to have an impact on the viewer's mind.
Marc Quinn
Blood, faeces, fingerprints, DNA, irises, mutilated bodies, sex, bread, love, Mark Quinn's artwork is always accompanied by controversy and carries a strong YBA art identity.
But it is interesting to note that every five years Quinn creates a new 'ego', which actually grows as he ages and seems to take on a life of its own. The blood, which makes up one-third of the body's weight, represents life itself. But at the same time, blood and violence often go hand in hand, and the sight of flesh and blood can sometimes mean the loss of life and the approach of death. Using blood as a medium, straightforward and raw, and as a process of self-exploration, Ego talks about Quinn's desire to use Ego to show the power of the body and to reflect on the existential question of life.
"I wanted the medium of the work to come from a part of the human body, 'blood' is a medium that is produced and will be produced continuously in our bodies and we will be constantly doing the rebirth of blood, and this blood in turn is the basis on which we as humans live. So our bodies constantly recreate blood, recirculate blood. In this way, the world is recreated through the blood.
In fact the blood cells are renewed every day, once every 21 days, and it takes a year for the blood system to be fully renewed, so after a year it is as if you are a new person. Like the paradox of "Ship of Theseus", Quinn wants to find himself in blood, and the blood that leaves his body is not so much another self as it is another "Quinn" that has materialised.
ZENG