Collection Agents

hyperallergic:

Damien Hirst, “Isolated Elements Swimming in the Same Direction for the Purposes of Understanding” (1991)

Is it too easy to start with Damien Hirst? Former darling of Saatchi’s YBAs (Young British Artists), Damien Hirst is as well known for the high prices his work fetches as for the work itself. Some of the millions he’s made have gone towards his own well-known art collection. I like reading this work in the context of collecting, which suggests a criticism of the hive mindset that drives prices upwards. Do only dead fish go with the flow? Of course, that’s from my own perspective, 20 years and countless formaldehyde-encased animals after the fact.