the physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living :: damien hirst

i know you've probably seen these before but i have been seeing a lot of 'shark art' lately and although the new pieces that artists are coming up with our fantastic, it only makes me think of damien hirst's formaldehyde creatures...especially mr. shark here above.

this dates all the way back to 1991 believe it or not. to me this concept seems so modern which just goes to show you how advanced hirst's concepts are. have you seen some of his more current work that was auctioned off at sotheby's in 2008? ...let's just say it included a full size unicorn {horse} and a pig with wings in formaldehyde. crazy stuff.

but i think what's most important with hirst's body of work is the emotion it evokes. for me, i can pinpoint fear, anxiety, stress, uneasiness, fascination and quite possibly bewilderment when i view most of his pieces. i believe that art - especially modern - is truly successful when it forces the audience to have an emotional reaction of some kind.

hirst is successful {at least with me being the audience} every single time. you can see more on his site here.