damien hirst and bauhaus

Here is Damien Hirst at one of the most fabulous events of the party season-the Motilo 'with love' party at London's Le Baron; Damien is dancing with Anna Machkevitch in the smokily lit lazer-effect club area.80 years ago another party took place at a Bauhaus gathering; here little Bauhausers are decked out futuristically in tube or metal attire. The current Barbican exhibition is aptly titled 'Art as Life'; there is sculpture, textile,dolls, theatre, posters and photography including shots of bauhausers at play (gymnastics and metal parties)-art as life or a way of life.

damien hirst and Munch

Damien Hirst gets helpers to finish or do all of this art work. He says 'I can't be arsed doing it'. Houellebecq in his recent novel depicts Hirst and Koons dividing up the art market for fun. Why not go a step further and be like Tom Ripley who invents a fictional artist to make money: Derwatt. Derwatt acquires a reputation and value even though the paintings are fakes. There is a difference as Ripley gets Bernard Tufts, another character, to do the fakes. We never see Derwatt. Ripley invents the idea that the artist is living in Mexico. It is a pity Hirst lacks the bottle to do the same. We might hear more about all the underpaid Bernard Tufts (not even the mininum wage) that he employs to do his work so we'd never  have to see or listen to him;
Imagine if Peter Watkins was to make a film about Hirst following the method he uses in his film about Munch. Watkins criticizes the monoform nature of much cinema-fast paced linear narrative to keep people in their seats. In his film about Munch there is not one form but many. Almost in one shot we hear the artist coughing (TB), see an image of his childhood (more TB), one of his portraits and footage of writers etc who formed his intellectual milieu (Strindberg et al); also, spoken over, is a timeline of his era. How are these levels of representation to be worked out for Damien Hirst? If Watkins was to make a film (Munch-like) of Damien Hirst he can find material for every representational level from Youtube:

1. Damien + mates shouting and swearing at the Groucho club
2. an image of some his 'spots'-the ones he bothered to do himself
3. timeline of his era-Trump, Kardashian, Jade Goody (for sentiment)
4. Similar to Munch coughing the Hirst film needs kitsch sound to accompany the 'spots'; available from Amazon are Kitchen Craft-n-Fun Animal Sound Magnetic Clips (Energy Class A+). Each clip (spot) makes the noise of the pictured animal and is activated by simply opening the clip (spot). The clips (spots) have a magnet to fix on your fridge.