Review: Damien Hirst: Relics and Fly Paintings.
Brooding, silent, inert, the works in this exhibition are far beyond death, having passed through rigor mortis, decomposition and mumification… Read More
Author: daniel barnes
I am a writer teacher and curator with an interest in contemporary British art and popular culture. In the past, I have written for Aesthetica, Winq and this is tomorrow, as well as having given lectures at universities and galleries nationwide, not to mention my stint as philosopher in residence on the Butcher's Apron Radio Show. These days, I divide my time between teaching English in an FE college and writing a book about Damien Hirst, as well as writing for FAD. My first book, The Value Industry, which explores the relationship between art and money, is available now from amazon.
The New Old Normal Value and Ideas #104
It was on a warm August morning back in 2014, sitting in a curry house in a side street off Brick Lane, when Gilbert told me he had been at Wembley for the 1966 World Cup Final.
More than Just Seeing Value and Ideas #103
Art is something we experience, and not just something we see. And learning this lesson is crucial if we are to avoid the very intellectual fabric of art being eroded and lambasted by travesties such as Van Gogh: The Immersive Experience, which plays into the hands of populism but does egregious harm to the integrity of the experience art.
Nothing Lasts Forever Value and Ideas #102
$69.3 million is a lot of money to spend on something you cannot touch, that does not occupy space and that cannot even be seen without flicking a switch. Now the dust has settled on Beeple’s epic auction debut, it is time to soberly consider whether it is worth it. Spoiler – it probably is! We are, after all, living in the future.
Value and Ideas #101 Do Not Go Gentle into that Good Night.
It’s been a while, but the column about the value of art is back. I wrote the first 100 instalments… Read More
PREVIEW: Benedict Redgrove: Everything & Nothing
Display Gallery is to present a series of expressionist cloudscapes by photographer Benedict Redgrove.
INTERVIEW: Hayden Kays: Overdrawn and On the Money
Young British artist Hayden Kays returns this spring with a new body of work.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #100: Why Damien Makes Such Good Art
Readers of this column will have noticed that I am the only person in the world who actually likes Damien Hirst despite not making any money from him.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #99: Gazing into the Abyss
In his latest exhibition, Gazing Ball Paintings, at Gagosian New York, Koons oversteps the mark of decency and demonstrates that the most horrifying thing about his art is its sincerity.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #98: Francis Bacon’s Pound of Flesh
On the 24th anniversary of Francis Bacon’s death, 28th April 2016, the artist’s first definitive catalogue raisonne will be published, including over 100 previously unseen works and missing 4 that remain untraceable.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #97: Dirty Words and Wholesome Ideas
If you think about it, you’ll realise you’ve had a funny feeling too. London has felt incomplete, bereft as if part of the furniture is missing but you cannot quite put your finger on what it is or where it has gone.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #96: On Good and Bad, Part III
In the fight again relativism and subjectivity in aesthetic judgements, I have been outlining how we might approach objective judgements of value.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #95: From Asian Future to Rights Now
One of GFest’s core functions is to remind us that although some of us are privileged to live without fear of state persecution or backward mob rule, not everybody in the world is. Thus the themes of this year’s festival is aptly (Complacent Present)…Fragile Future?
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #94: Nobody Puts Basquiat in the Corner
The perennial question that dare not speak its name on pain of heresy is this: what, precisely, is it about Basquiat that inspires such adoration and extravagance?
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #93: On Good and Bad, Part II
The death of Brian Sewell heralded the death of art criticism. Or so I said. It was an inflammatory claim, designed to rile, but there was a grain of anxious serious in it. Sewell was not just a contrarian, he was an astute critic of refined tastes and a conscientious objector.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #92: Stevens Strikes Again
A mystery Basquiat has appeared in Nashville, Tennessee. An untitled, unknown Basquiat was just gathering dust somewhere until Stevens auction house plucked it from obscurity.
INTERVIEW: Daniel Barnes talks to Emma Gibson about her new solo show ‘Shelling Out’
Gibson’s work is characterised by a fascination with the subtle details of everyday life, where seemingly insignificant characters become heroes, strange happenings morph into life-changing epics and insignificant flourishes are seen as clues to a deeper mystery.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #91: This Little Piggy Went to Market…
At this point in Frieze – that’s three days in for paupers, and five days for the elite – it is customary to begin to round up the highlights and to deliver a critical judgement.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #90: On Good and Bad, Part I
Criticism and all aesthetic debate is founded on a toxic belief in subjectivity which reduces to relativism.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #89: The Collector Who Cried Wolf
Leonardo DiCaprio has joined the ranks of the world’s top art collectors..
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #88: The Life of Brian and the Death of Art Criticism
The death of Brian Sewell is a great tragedy. Never again will the acres of art criticism generated by Britain’s newspapers be punctuated by a single shard of intellectual rigour.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #87: Unhappy as Larry
Gagosian has been sued by the Archiv Franz West over its latest exhibition of the late artist’s furniture,
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #86: Not So Standard Fair
Art fairs have become ubiquitous in the landscape of the art market. Once you’ve seen one fair, you’ve seen them all: row upon makeshift row of booths desperate to stand out, populated by art that stirs a faint sense of déjà vu and expectant gallerists wielding bottles of champagne. And there’s always a throng of revellers who are there to be seen and those of us waving our press passes as if we matter to the whole circus. But START is different.
Daniel’s Value and Ideas #85: Successful Artist Thought to Himself, ‘Oops, I’ve Got a Lot of Money’…
There is a documentary in which Damien Hirst gives a tour of his Glosucestershire estate, Toddington Manor, explaining his elaborate plans for its restoration. In one spectacular room after another, with an air of affected genius and childish glee, Damien points at the space and exclaims, ‘You could put a shark in there!’.