2002

Wheel within a wheel

Tate

Listen to curator's interpretation

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Curatorial notes

Editor: Here we have Damien Hirst's "Wheel within a wheel," part of the Tate Collection. It's deceptively simple with colored concentric circles. What’s your take on this work? Curator: Considering Hirst's broader practice, including his market value and the controversies surrounding the commodification of art, this piece raises questions about authenticity and artistic labor. Is the apparent simplicity a critique, or an endorsement, of the art market? Editor: That's a point I hadn't considered. It does make you wonder if it's commenting on the cyclical nature of the art world itself. Curator: Precisely. The title, combined with the imagery, could be interpreted as a commentary on the repetition and perceived meaninglessness within the art industry. It certainly gives us something to consider. Editor: Absolutely. It’s fascinating how socio-political context can drastically change how we understand something so visually simple.

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tateover 1 year ago

http://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-wheel-within-a-wheel-p13056

tateover 1 year ago

This is one of the twenty-three etchings that comprise the first volume of two portfolios, In a Spin, the Action of the World on Things I and II. Each etching was made by the artist in London 2002, printed on 350gsm Hahnmuhle paper, proofed and editioned at Hope (Sufferance) Press, London and published by Charles Booth-Clibborn under his imprint, The Paragon Press. There are sixty-eight sets of prints, numbered 1–68 on the colophon page, and six proof copies. Tate’s copy is the second in the edition. Each set is accompanied by a colophon page and presented in a box with an original spin painting in household paint on the cover and the title and artist’s name printed on top. In addition to etchings similar to those in the first volume, the second volume of In a Spin... includes a photograph of the night sky that Hirst took using a long exposure, recording the movement of the stars in the sky caused by the earth’s rotation, and contributing to the notion expressed in the words: the Action of the World on Things. The artist first coined this phrase in 1999, when he was explaining the origin of his spot paintings (see AR00498), differentiating two strands of his work: ‘an involvement with death and decay, and ideas and life: the action of the world on things exists somewhere, and the colour exists somewhere else. And it’s fantastic.’ (Quoted in Damien Hirst and Gordon Burn, On the Way to Work, London 2001, p.119.) In the event, the imagery of In a Spin, the Action of the World on Things I and II unites these two strands.

Wheel within a wheel

Damien Hirst

Tate

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