Damien Hirst comenta sus pinturas preferidas

Damien Hirst, el autor del cráneo más privilegiado de la historia del arte, conocido quizá más por el precio que han alcanzado sus obras que por sus obras mismas, ex enfant terrible hoy cerca de los 50 años, ha acabado por ceder al encanto de la Tate Modern, a la que tanto había criticado. Desde el día 4 de abril y hasta el próximo 9 de septiembre el museo londinense le dedica una gran exposición retrospectiva. El diario Guardian se ha ocupado ampliamente del acontecimiento y entre lo publicado se encuentra una galería de imágenes con obras ajenas escogidas y comentadas por el artista. He aquí dos de ellas y el enlace al resto de las obras comentadas (enlace)




William Blake, The Ghost of a Flea (c1819-20)    Photograph: Tate    
I always wanted to do big things when I was younger. I thought big is good ... So when I came across the Blake painting, I thought: 'What is it? It takes you in there. It's dark, and it's scary, and it has this huge scale.' Then you think: 'Where is the flea? What is the flea? Why is it the ghost of a flea?' It was probably the most frightening image I'd ever seen. It seduces you; it asks so many questions, but doesn’t answer them. I really enjoyed thinking about it and looking at it. I went back and saw it a few times. Later, I looked at all Blake’s work, but it didn’t have the same power as that image. It has that David Lynch feel to it, hasn’t it?

Francis Bacon, Study for a Portrait (1952)
An image can be anything and can come from anywhere, and you can use anything available to create that image – and Bacon created unforgettable images that you can’t get out of your head ... I think art is one plus one equals three. But it’s a third thing and a fourth thing and a fifth thing – things start to happen. You can’t look at that curtain in the Bacon painting Study for a Portrait, for example, and answer the question of it without seeing everything else. So that's what the problem is. And once you do that, you can’t look at the face of the guy without looking at the box. You don't doubt that you know why he's screaming, but what is he screaming about? Photograph: Estate of Francis Bacon. All Rights Reserved, DACS 2012