Among sharks

Few boundaries are as blurry as those of contemporary art. I’m not pretending to stand outside them. I’m the first critic of my own work, and believe me, I’m possibly—along with Artsper—its toughest and worst judge.

My point is to put the spotlight on production and deployment over content. It’s so easy nowadays to get lost in the thin line between one and the other. When luxury is confused with “bling-bling” instead of truly deep and valuable concepts in art, everything becomes Vuitton bags, Instagram or TikTok hits—or ask Snoop Dogg.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, Damien Hirst, 1991

But let us not get lost in the forest of vanity. The true conceptual strength lies in taking a million-year marvel—a shark suspended in formaldehyde—or what could perfectly be a two-million-year-old human skull covered in diamonds—as a reminder of our own mortality and of how shiny, precious, beautiful, and impermanent it is. One is visually terrifying; the other is the awe of the mirror in which we all see ourselves as a species.

Damien Hirst had the vision, the fortune, and the opportunity to place that question squarely on the world's art table, whoever the patron.

You see, in my poor, unfortunate, and sad art life—if that is what it is—I once took a private art appreciation course with an Argentinian auctioneer who, evidently, never gave me any certificate. He asked me, while showing a slide of For the Love of God—inspired by an Aztec turquoise skull (Mexico again)—whether I considered it art.

Without hesitation, I answered: Yes.

Obviously, he didn’t understand.

The deep semiotics and symbolism enclosed within the object require a vision capable of seeing beyond reality.

Among sharks