Damien Hirst, who is an internationally recognised British
artist who majority works in works in sculptures and interrelation piece. We constantly see the repetition of death
though his work and is famous for his ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in
the Mind of Someone Living’ 1991 (A shark concealed in a Formaldehyde
Solution). This was displayed at the
Tate Modern last year with serial other pieces of his work.
In
September last year while working in London I was able to go and see his
expedition there, one piece got my attention, ‘The Anatomy of an Angel’. This Sculpture shows an angel sat on a rock
with sections of her flesh removed revealing its anatomy. Hirst based this
piece on Alfred Boucher’s sculpture ‘L'Hirondelle’ which also is of an angel sat on a rock.
Hirst made his version of Boucher’s ‘L’Hirondelle’ to show that the imagery of
an angel maybe not be as powerful and as holy as religion states, showing that
on the inside they are the same as humanity.
The concept with religion is presented through
the angelic statue that shows how society values religion in the different
periods. Religion in the 1920’s when the ‘L’Hirondelle’ was created was facing
a battle with education and feminism in society. This in comparison to modern
society, religion and education are now found on a level playing flied. Even
though 84% of the world’s population (to the Washington times) are still
religious, we find its not dominating our culture as it did. Hirst altered the
‘L’Hirondelle’ to show that we as humans are the same on the inside of the creatures
called angels in the bible. Whether he does this in his own religious beliefs
is unknown, however though my research and discovering that he was once
religious, I’d say it represents his loss of faith by comparing us with the
imagery of an angle.
As stated above the continue battle between evolution and religion
is continued in Hirst’s piece of work. When looking into the religious aspect
to the piece I’ve found myself asking ‘If there is biology to religion and how
religion explains it?’ From the information found on the creation of the angels
as a race, we can not specify when or how they came to be. Only that like
humanity they were made in god’s image. It’s also clear that they weren’t
created in the same 6 days in which the Earth and humanity were. Therefore this
could lead to the evidence that angels were in fact created in humanities image
however with improved abilities and Devine intervention. This supports Hirst with his sculpture and
his ideas on how angels and humanity are alike.
The sculpture fits well with the types of images the younger
generations are facing through different aspects of their lives. Today’s
cultures we find are centred on mythology meeting reality, which in themselves
are opposites. We see this through the types of literature being written and
the television and film that are being shown. The sculpture is a perfect
example of this with the way Hirst is showing us how we have the anatomy the
same as the angel. Bring down the walls between humanity and the mythical, just
as today’s generation is being shown through the media.
We can also look into how modern society considers beauty,
personality and stereotypes. The angel itself is figured in how artist have
imaged them in most drawings and paintings, not following the exact description
of them from the bible, ‘living creatures had six wings and was covered with eyes all around,
even under his wings.’ This could have been done so that the audience of these
painting would follow and aim to look and act like what they were viewing. This
is exactly the case In Boucher’s work; he was trying to show how people should
behave with all aspects of their lives, instead of rebelling from the religious
ways. We can see again that Hirst argues against this by showing we are all
alike under the flesh. However he still uses a stereotypical beautify and
angelic image of a women to do this.
On
Hirst continual theme of death we can see that the angel has been dissected
like most of his work. Allowing the audience to see the mechanics of the
creatures and how they work. Now anyone with a basic level of biology will know
the general layout to the human body. Making it clear the anatomy is the same
as ours. Not only this we our shown the angels bones and a section of its
skull, this in particular is something that collected my attention. This is because
within death and decay it’s the bones which are left for many years after,
allowing us in the future to look back and make the past reality with the
findings. The sculpture makes it clear that when the flesh and the organs are
gone and we are left with bones, there is no difference between anybody. Which
is why Hirst’s continue comparison comes down to the face in death we are all
the same.
Overall
with Hirst’s sculpture, the beauty and elegance of the piece is remarkable. The
biggest questions are found when studying it closer and looking into the
history, however this is hidden under the simply design and posture of the
angel. This was all possibly done to show the simple message of we are all
alike, from showing the history of ‘L’Hirondelle’ being used to make people
follow a normality by being religious, then with Hirst peeling away the layers
to show them that with everything happening was just natural progress within
society. The piece still holds an elegance in which I haven’t seen before and
appeals to me because of the culture I’ve been surrounded by (mythology meeting
reality). However from the research I’ve found myself conflicted by its
religious meaning, holding no actuate description of an angel or fitting into
an opinion of any of the sides mentioned.