Born
in Bristol, in 1965, Hirst studied at Goldsmith's College,
London. Hirst’s exhibit of a cow and calf sawn in half
and pickled in formaldehyde was received unfavourably
by critics and public alike, but made him a household
name overnight. In the late 90s, Hirst’s work has fetched
large sums of money. the most expensive piece so far has
been £188,500 (April 1993) for a medicine cabinet filled
with bottles of medicines entitled God..
In
October 1993 however, he received a setback when his 'Alone
yet Together', a cabinet containing 100 fish suspended
in formaldehyde, failed to sell at auction in London.
The work is intended to parody Victorian scientists' specimens.This
was the first of his four formaldehyde Cabinets to be
auctioned, and the bidding was stopped at £85,000. Later
the cabinet was sold for a figure believed to be near
the original expected price. It was estimated that each
of the four cabinets would reach something in the region
of £l00,000-150,000. Hirst’s Loss of Memory is worse than
Death, a steel cage enclosing formaldehyde containers,
a mask, gloves and a syringe also failed to sell when
the bidding was stopped at £55,000 (it was expected to
make £80,000 -120,000). Hirst's work is controversial
and he is regarded by many as a self-publicist rather
than an artist.
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