Filed underDamien Hirst
To steal or not to steal
Artistic theft has gone on forever and will continue to do so. But it's a funny thing too, and rather similar to a joke, because how funny it is depends on who's doing what to whom. Obviously Damien Hirst has no sense of humor. How else to explain his absurd reaction to a 17 yr old unknown graffiti artist, Cartrain ( http://bit.ly/17TvZ8), who incorporated elements from Hirst's "For the Love of God" into his own work with the same name. There is no similarity and certainly no chance of confusion as to who created which artwork. One piece is a skull of platinum, human teeth and 8,601 diamonds worth $100 million. The other a digital print worth $130. Damien demanded the works be removed from a small site called 100artworks.com and delivered to him. Then partly as a joke, and partly because he's a young rebel, Cartrain actually managed to walk into one of the most respected galleries in London, the Tate, where Hirst's work entitled "The Pharmacy" was being exhibited, and steal a box of Mongol pencils from its shelves. Then, using those pencils to spell the word "Ransom", Cartrain created a poster to ask for his artworks back, promising to return the pencils. If the artworks were not returned however, the pencils would be sharpened. I find this wonderfully amusing, and I am surprised that someone who, at one time would certainly have been considered a rebel in the artworld, would take this so seriously. Since then, Cartrain has been imprisoned, released on bail, and charged with $10,000,000 (yes, that million) worth of damages, and $100,000 worth of theft.
The real irony here is that a not very well known artist called John LeKay has been accusing Damien Hirst of ripping off his ideas for almost 20 years, and no one has cared much. If you check his site (http://bit.ly/nremF), John shows a similar jeweled skull, originally created in 1993 in a piece called Spiritus calidus, and 5 more artworks Hirst "borrowed" from him, yet he doesn't have the wealth or the fame to act on his rightful claims. I guess it just goes to show might makes right, but it certainly doesn't seem fair. To support Cartrain, and follow this story on twitter, use #hirstisacock. And I guess I'll be changing my twitter background, since I've always used that exact skull.
Heather
whitelaird@yahoo.com
twitter.com/howlvenice
http://howlvenice.posterous.com/
