The glossy monthly Monopol will release it's April issue this Thursday, with Damien Hirst on the cover. Inside, however, no images of Hirst's work will appear. The story, examining Hirst's retrospective at the Tate, which opened last week, will be accompanied by blank spaces in the layout, where the images were intended to be placed. Editor Holger Leibs says “We decided not to cover up the gaps that resulted, rather left them visible.”
A first in the magazine's 6-year history, the artist refused to provide images without having approval over the content of the text. Hirst’s spokeswoman denies the magazine's account, saying that the image permissions were refused because of the contributor, who the Hirst studio maintains had filed previous stories with factual inaccuracies.
The article's author, Ben Lewis, had previously produced a film criticising Hirst and the contemporary British art scene, titled “The Great Contemporary Art Bubble”. Reportedly, Hirst had also banned Lewis from the September 15th, 2008 Sotheby's auction in which the artist sold over 70 million pounds worth of his own art, on the same day that Lehman Brothers Holdings Inc. filed for bankruptcy, the worst financial news since 911.
No comments:
Post a Comment