July 17, 2007
Metropolitan Museum is Ready for Shark Attack
Last week, we mentioned that the Metropolitan Museum of Art confirmed plans to show the Damien Hirst work, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a.k.a. "the shark floating in formaldehyde" to laymen. The museum sent us this cool image of the piece, so we couldn't help but mention it again.
The work is being loaned to the museum by hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen for three years, and while some eyebrows might have been raised about the Met showing such a modern piece of work, Met director Philippe de Montebello said in a statement, "Damien Hirst's iconic shark will be an arresting sight in the Metropolitan's modern art galleries. It should be especially revealing and stimulating to confront this work in the context of the entire history of art, an opportunity only this institution can provide."
If you're heading to the Met before then, check out Frank Stella on the rooftop and the new Greek and Roman antiquities galleries. Additionally, a reader pointed out there are real sharks to be seen at the NY Aquarium at Coney Island.
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hmmm... that image just might replace pandas as my wallpaper!
I think this is a profound and really interesting piece...just think about the title. Damien Hirst is a legit artist, not just a provocateur.
Shark art is a waste of time.
watch out nemo!
I'll repeat what I said before:
I can see real live sharks at the Coney island Aquarium.
You know, no matter how good the frame, crap is still crap, whether at the Met or in London.
Funny but true story; at an art gallery in London the night janitor swept away what he thought was trash in a corner only to be told the next day that that was part of the art exhibit.
Ewwww.
Not art. Not art at all.
while some eyebrows might have been raised about the Met showing such a modern piece of work
If someone is surprised of seeing "such a modern piece of work" at the Met, he/she hasn't been at the Met for a looooooong time!
I was hoping for a Zack Attack
"...an opportunity only this institution can provide."
Ooh la la, that's some hubris Monsieur de Montebello. Particularly for a director who (on and off the record) detests contemporary art. Although Hirst is officially European, which makes him less odious. And the shark's a cash cow.
The shark is not art and Hirst is not an artist. Neither is Stella.
Louis Torres
Co-Editor, Aristos, an online review of the arts
Co-Author, What Art Is (Open Court, 2000)