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Taking New York by storm

The exhibition, Damien Hirst: Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings, held at Larry Gagosian's new Chelsea gallery from early September to mid-December 2000, was an extraordinary commercial and popular success. The private view, attended by luminaries of the art and fashion world, was one of the parties of the year.

Over 12 weeks, 100,000 people went to see the show. Visitors' reactions were mostly positive. 'Amusing, witty and poignant,' one said. Others were shocked, or simply confused. Every single work was sold.

Critically the show was acclaimed too, though not unequivocally. Roberta Smith, art critic of the New York Times, wrote: 'In the best works, Mr Hirst brings the visual and mental, the material and the literary, into perfect balance... this exhibition gives New York a sense of Mr Hirst as an artist with big, life-affirming messages to get across, determined to do so without preaching, and in terms as close to the purely visual as possible.'

Jerry Saltz, writing in the Village Voice, said: 'Damien Hirst - the one true pop-star artist - is back. And guess what? Hirst is not down, and not out. He's bigger, more uneven, and better than ever.'

The New Yorker was slightly less effusive. Acknowledging that the show was 'dicey but highly enjoyable', Peter Schjeldahl said that Hirst is 'too damned anxious for approval'. Nevertheless, he also admitted that 'if you loathe Hirst, you will have lots of company, but this won't let you off the hook of his significance'.

To some extent, Hirst would agree with this. Asked by a critic before the show opened what he would do if it was not hailed as a success, Hirst said, 'It already is a success.' How come? Because he was happy with what he had done and because the people who worked with him were pleased with it. It would succeed if it got more people interested in art, he argued. In that sense, Hirst's success is unquestionable.

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Taking New York
Damien Hirst superstar
Hirst's art: for
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Hirst's life
Art attack
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