The Squid stories: Damien Hirst

London. Saturday 8th of October 2012.

The last days of the substantial Damien Hirst exhibition we absolutely didn't want to miss. We waited too long, and before you know, it is closing weekend....
So we booked some (too expensive) Eurostar tickets, and headed for the UK. As for Iman it was his first time in London, he was totally excited, even we only stayed the day.

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Poster of the exhibition I all ready spotted when I was at Tate Modern for the Kusama expo.

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Yes, we knew! Long queuing lines as we predicted.
Thank god we booked our tickets in advance, but as we were late, we could only enter at 5 pm, terribly late to catch our return train. Impossible! We had to use all our charms and small talk to switch our tickets, so we did and with success.

Thank you, Tate Modern Lady for the great customer service!
http://www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-modern

Ticket switch for 11 AM, Damien, here we come!

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Tate Modern is the perfect spot to (re)discover Damien Hirst's oeuvre. As a prominent member of the British art scene since Damiens inaugural exhibition Freeze at Goldsmiths back in 1988, Hirst has become one of the most influential (and richest) artists of his generation. The exposition brings together 70 works and covers everything Hirst is particularly known for – from pickling sharks and killing flies to painting spots and encrusting a skull with diamonds and selling it for a claimed price of £50m.

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

No pictures allowed, but hey, do I ever respond well to rules? Exactly.

Mother and child divided. Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Two of the most notorious pieces of sculpture show feature animals suspended in formaldehyde. "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" features a 14 foot tiger shark in a glass and steel tank; while "Mother and Child Divided" consists of a bisected cow and calf, which was entered into the 1995 Turner Prize competition that Hirst won.

Twelve years ago in 2000, I was in New York (the year Maui was born) and at that very moment there was the famous Damien Hirst expo ‘Theories, Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings’ at Gagosian Gallery. I didn't know the artist very well, but it was love at first sight. The shark tank, the mother and child in blue formaldehyde, the doctors cabinets....goosebumps!

Later I dined at Hirst's Pharmacy restaurant in London-a revelation-( waiters in red open back surgeon uniforms!! Yummie!!), unfortunately closed years ago.

So, I can say I'm a huge fan.

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

The grand scale piece "Pharmacy", which depicts a real-size pharmacy room, full of bottles, cabinets, boxes and pills representing prescription drugs.

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Shark tank in front of a fake diamond wallpaper room "Tears of Joy", a statement Hirst makes to show he sells art 'by the running meter' and he produces non stop diamond money. For sale in the bookstore for 250 £ per roll.

(Illegal, haha) Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Photo Kate Stockman-Ivan Missinne

Time for a living installation.

We stepped in to "In and Out of Love", a room full of live butterflies. They happily feed on fruit and drink from pot plants with their own entomological consultant on hand to check they are living their short lives as comfortably as possible.

Staff checks your hair and clothing to prevent breaks for freedom through the plastic curtains.

No pics inside, and as we had to enter only per 20 visitors, I missed great shots of the fabulous tropical butterflies flying around you. Bummer.

Hirst's "For the Love of God", a small human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds, is displayed in a darkened room with its own security in the vast Turbine Hall.