Contemporary Connections Between Chosen Artist and the Art History

Modern-Contemporary Connections Essay
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Modern-Contemporary Connections Essay: Damien Hirst
Biographical Background
Damien Hirst is an artist who has forged one of the most controversial paths by contemporary artists. Hirst’s work often elicits mixed reactions with people forced to engage in discussions over his credibility. He was born in 1965 and rose to prominence in the 90s as part of a group of artists known as the Young British Artists. The group was daring and grew quite famous because they sought to change the artworld in Britain in the 90s. Hirst owes a lot of his success to the group Young British Artists. He was the pioneer of this group which mainly included his friends and “some of his classmates from Goldsmith’s College” (Delikat, 2017). Delikat notes that what is known about Hirst is that “he mass produces shocking works that sell for huge sums of money and that his meteoric rise was orchestrated by a notoriously cunning advertising executive, Charles Saatchi.” Saatchi started collecting artworks from Hirst and his friends and he is the one who organized their first exhibition called Freeze. He continued collecting their art and showcasing them in the Saatchi gallery. However, even though the artists had started to become famous, it was not until an art show known as Sensation that the artists’ prominence increased tremendously. Adams (2017) notes that Sensation was simply an attempt to introduce a new generation of artists within a collector’s vision. She continues to say that Sensation was a success and that Hirst was among the artists who grew to prominence from this moment onwards. Some of artworks by Hirst include Mother and Child Divided (1993), The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), and For the Love of God (2007). Currently, Hirst is considered one of the richest and most influential artists of his generation and his fame continues to grow with each controversy and each piece of work he delivers.
Connections between Chosen Artist and the Art History
Looking at what Hirst and those like him have done, one cannot fail to notice similarities between what they are doing and what happened in the past. Hirst is not a typical artist who agrees to go along with the tide. However, he is a person who wants to exert his will and follow his path. Looking at the history of art, one can only compare his resolve and drive to the impressionists. Initially, in France, artists were not expected to showcase their work without the consent and approval of the French Art Academy. However, impressionists like Claude Monet wanted to go against the grain. Artists sought to be independent from the government and slowly started to organize their own exhibitions showcasing their pieces of art. Hirst borrows the resolve of these artists because together with the members of the Young British Artists movement, he decided not to follow the normal career path that is set out beforehand for British artists. The normal path for British artists, and for artists all over the world, is to produce their work for years as they await their breakthrough later in life. However, as indicated by Galenson (2007) Hirst together with...