Fiona Hall and Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst Fiona Hall
For the Love of God Paradisus Terrestris, Lotus
2007 1998

Visual Analysis of ‘For the Love of God’ and ‘Lotus’
Damien Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ is platinum casting of a human skull that is encrusted with high quality diamonds but has a feature of human teeth. The sculpture reflects the idea of death but tries to distinguish the difference between the negative side of death and the positive. Hirst wanted his work to be very positive even though it was based around death, which is why he also used the theme of vanity to create the work. Fiona Hall’s artwork ‘Lotus’ from the collection of works Paradisus Terrestris is based around the idea of human vs. nature. The artwork is created from aluminium and a sardine tin that has been pulled back to reveal the stomach of a human body. The series also refers to the paradise of Australia and Sri Lanka, especially this artwork that features the lotus flower, also known as the temple flower. ‘There are more genetic similarities between us and the plant world than there are differences’ – Fiona Hall.

Both artworks are about the human body and how they one part of the body is represented. They are both about beauty and elegance, one being used in the materials such as diamonds and the other using it in comparing nature and the human body. They are both castings of the human body but ‘Lotus’ has been scaled smaller so that the stomach can fit inside the sardine tin. Both of them have been created over time because of the processes. Damien Hirst’s ‘For the Love of God’ took months to create because of the artist having to cast the real skull, drill holes for each diamond and placing each diamond in position. Using aluminium, which is easy to get but takes time to cut and carve into, created Fiona Hall’s ‘Lotus’ artwork. The timing of creation for both of these took a few months, even though they are very different.

‘For the Love of God’ and ‘Lotus’ are both sculptures that use shape to create meaning. One of these artworks is about death, while the other is about a living part of a human body and living nature. Even though they have similarities, the main ideas are the complete opposite. They both use unusual materials for the creation (diamonds, platinum, a sardine tin and aluminium) but one cost millions of dollars to create while the other includes recycled materials.

Damien Hirst
For the Love of God
2007

Personal Response
My first impression of ‘For the Love of God’ was how Damien Hirst tried to make death look like a good thing, but behind all the research and meaning to the materials and elements and principles, Hirst tried to make an artwork based on the positive side of death and how he could make it look beautiful. There could be another meaning to this artwork such as how people in the present generation often spend money on themselves and try to glamourize themselves as much as possible so that they can stand out. Hirst could be referring to people being interested in fashion and money so much that when death comes for them, it follows them to the grave. I enjoy how the artist has created it so well that the many diamonds does not make it look cheap, such as the forehead area, but minimal and elegant, which doesn’t take away the meaning behind it. This artwork really inspires me because of how the meaning is portrayed, it doesn’t stand out but it’s not hard to guess. I also think it is good to incorporate some of the original piece into the new artwork such as the human teeth that have been cleaned and placed into the platinum.

Meaning and Purpose
Damien Hirsts ‘For the Love of God’ gives a meaning of vanity within the human life and how death can be seen as gleaming and luminous instead of miserable and melancholy. He tried to do the opposite of the stereotyped version of death, which is commonly seen as an extremely negative subject. The materials that have been used to create this artwork also give a sense to what the artwork is about and what is trying to be said. The skull is covered in diamonds, which are eternal and is a casting made from platinum, which lasts forever. Hirst is trying to fight the idea of decay buy using the materials as a form of showing the opposite.

Vanity, which is a major theme in this artwork, is shown through the materials and the concept of the skull. ‘Vanity is uncontrolled pride in ones own appearance’. The notion of having diamonds and platinum featured in the work is depicting how death can still be seen as admiration and glamorousness after life. Death, which is another major theme in this artwork, comes through the idea of the human skull and how it has been changed completely other than the feature of the teeth. Damien Hirst has chosen to look at the idea of death for this artwork because it is one of his themes that are used in all of his other works, especially in the series ‘Beautiful Inside My Head Forever’, which consisted of dead animals. He uses it in every art piece of his but usually from the negative point of view of it, for this work he wanted to do the complete opposite and go all the way with making the subject as positive as possible, which is why he decided to move along the subject of glamorousness and vanity.

There are a range of elements and principles that have been used in Hirsts artwork, which include repetition, texture, shape and balance. The artist has used repetition by using the same size and type of diamonds all over the skull for a minimal effect but has added a focal point to the forehead with the larger diamonds in an upside down raindrop shape. Because everyone human skull looks the same, the minimal effect of the diamonds replaces the bone and structure of a real human skull. Texture has also been used by the use of materials and the soft platinum base with the small diamonds and large diamonds cased in silver. Damien Hirst has also featured real human teeth in the artwork, which changes the idea of vanity to death in that area and lets the viewer stay on the topic of death. The shape of the sculpture is clearly a human skull that has not had its shape changed and reveals curved edges exactly how a human skull is structured. Balance has been used is two different ways, one being how the small diamonds are all evenly spaced and the second, how the larger diamonds are in the same area as all the large holes whereas the rest is all minimal towards the back.

Social, Historical and Cultural Contexts
Death is most commonly seen as an awful part of the human life but in some religions such as Christianity, death is seen as a hopeful way to travel to the surroundings of God. The title of the artwork ‘For the Love of God’ is thought of as the phrase that is commonly used, but can also be read as how Christians see death as getting to meet and stay with God. It can also symbolise that the title of this artwork has a second meaning, which is for the ‘love of god’ referring to how it is a gift for Gods love. Death was always seen as a bad thing to people in the world, people were afraid to die and see what the after life would be like. Only recently, artists have been looking at the other side of death in their artworks and refer to the positive side of it and how different ways of how death can bring happiness and celebration. Human death has always been more important than another living species, simply because humans are in control. Damien Hirst is an English artist who is Christian and believes in God and how he affects the world. Most of his work has religious undertones and always has to do with living species and death. One of his artworks called ‘Charity’ was about representing Jesus’s disciples and also had animals such as cows with knives and scissors, which is a part of tradition of Catholic imagery.

Fiona Hall
Paradisus Terrestris, Lotus
1998

Personal Response
Fiona Hall’s artwork ‘Lotus’ lets the main idea stand out of the artwork. The nature and human parts show symbolism straight away by how they have been reflected inside a sardine tin with aluminium. The idea of using two different but very similar subjects, which are nature and the human species, gives an interesting point and lets the viewer come up with a range of meanings. The technique that was used was aluminium and a sardine tin. Aluminium would be very easy to work with especially if it were thin because it could easy be cut and carved into. Fiona Hall has also giving meaning through the materials such as the sardine tin beginning to be pulled back, revealing the body underneath. I think that Fiona Hall’s ideas in her artwork will be a huge part in mine, such as the techniques used and how she has incorporated the similarities between the human species and nature.

Meaning and Purpose
‘Lotus’, an artwork from the series ‘Paradisus Terrestris’ is created from aluminium and a sardine tin that has been pulled back to reveal the stomach of a human body. Above the stomach are lotuses coming out from the tin. Humans and nature are both a part of the cycle of growth and reproduction, but the whole series refers to the paradise of Sri Lanka and Australia. Especially with this artwork, which features the lotus flower, also known in Sri Lanka and the temple flower.

Living species of nature and humans are the main themes in this artwork. These are shown through the shapes of lotuses and the human stomach, which have been connected to each other through a sardine tin. The works also have views on the Garden of Eden and how the environment mixes with naked humans, as if they’re in a lost paradise, referring it to the title ‘Paradisus Terrestris’. There are two different series of these sculptures, this one being about Australia and Sri Lanka together. The tropical environment in Sri Lanka and the Australian outback influenced Fiona Hall’s series. She purposely placed the plants on the top of the body parts, as if they were feeding them and reversing the efforts of the humankind to control nature. She used the materials as if they were skin to create plants, some including fruits to refer to the human body and how women carry fruits inside them and grow. Fiona Hall stated “For most of us living in a world of manufactured products we tend to think that we are looking out at nature and forget that we are nature”.

Social, Historical and Cultural Contexts This series is based around Australia and Sri Lanka together, both of these places believing in spirituality with nature. This artwork also has references to the Christian mythology and how the universe enlightened its flora and fauna. With these cultural aspects, Fiona Hall also represents historical attributes such as using Australian trees and fruit plants from England to symbolise the English colonies that were brought to Australia. The convicts would be traded for food and be placed on the garden plants. In Australia, some native plants have been transported here as food for commercial value, but Sir Joseph Banks who was an English botanist and accompanied Captain Cook, recorded a large range of Australia’s native flora. Fiona Hall was born in Sydney, Australia, which is why a lot of her art has relations to Australian culture, but she has also widened her research and travelled to Sri Lanka between the years of 1999 – 2005. She based this series on Australia and Sri Lanka because she had spent the longest time in both these places. They both have a large range of flora especially in the tropical regions, which is why Fiona Hall included a large range of types of flora, then chose erotic and human body parts to attach to the plant life made from aluminium.