- Hardcover: 232 pages
- Publisher: Universe (Jan 5 2002)
- Language: English
- ISBN-10: 0789306646
- ISBN-13: 978-0789306647
- Product Dimensions: 18.8 x 3.3 x 23.6 cm
- Shipping Weight: 907 g
- Average Customer Review: 3.5 out of 5 stars See all reviews (2 customer reviews)
- Amazon Bestsellers Rank: #1,220,686 in Books (See Top 100 in Books)
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Product Details |
Product Description
From Amazon
Damien Hirst and his friend, the writer Gordon Burn, provide in On the Way to Work a fascinating window into the mind of one of the most successful artists of the turn of the 21st century. The book, which is beautifully produced, illustrated, and typeset, is a collection of interviews, the first on the eve of Hirst's first major exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts in London--when he unveiled his infamous shark suspended in a vat of formaldehyde (1991's wonderfully titled The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living. While the book is certainly skewed toward the later years (one interview in January 1992, one in April 1996, three in 1999, and seven in 2000), the reader does get a broad overview of how Hirst's relationships to life, art, and money have progressed. Hirst's fame, his spearheading of the YBA (young British artists) phenomenon, and his subsequent exposure in the gossip columns with the well-documented, and inevitable, drug and drink stories, are all fully covered here. But it is Hirst's genuinely profound artistic imagination and insight that best come across: his obsession with death--and with needing to prove his talent as a way to be immortalized in order to escape death--and his ambivalence toward art (the kind of ambivalence much of the public itself exhibits toward modern art) are key here. Also illuminating is Hirst's respect and admiration for Francis Bacon, as well as our discovery of Hirst's skill as a raconteur. If most visual artists show a disappointing inability to discuss their creations, Hirst, at least, shows an enviable ability to tell a divertingly good story: proof, if any were needed, of his working-class roots and his fidelity towards them (surely only the middle classes would see the selling of the fruit of their artistic labors as selling out).
Hirst, candidly, sees the art world as always part of the work and space of art, and it is a part he sometimes enjoys, sometimes struggles with, and whose successes he has rightly benefited from. In 1996 Hirst displayed the body of a cow cut up and suspended in 12 vitrines. The piece was called Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything. Hirst seems to have decided that the inevitability of death, so futilely hidden by a society obsessed with youth and health, is the only truth--or rather, perhaps, the only incisive fact that may help us to fully live now and eschew those lies in which we all swim and in which we are always in danger of drowning. On the Way to Work is an excellent book and much recommended to anyone who has been fascinated by the sudden rise in the visibility of modern art and what it has to say about society at the beginning of the 21st century. --Mark Thwaite, Amazon.co.uk
Review
'I want it to be revealing. I'll talk about anything you like. I want it to be truthful. Let's do it. There is no off-limits. I'm afraid of nothing.'
--This text refers to an alternate
Hardcover
edition.
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Most helpful customer reviews
3.0 out of 5 stars
bad boy tells all,
By A Customer
This review is from: On the Way to Work (Hardcover)
ON THE WAY TO WORK is not a book of interviews so much as a collection of Damien Hirst's angry rants on everything from art school to art dealers, Kurt Schwitters to Francis Bacon, drink, drugs, decay . . . and art. "I feel I've opened a can of worms in my own head," the artist states at one point. True enough. Hirst is at his best playing enfant-terrible/raconteur, spitting out stories of a hardscrabble childhood and grand-guignol adolescence, rejecting the polite aesthetics of art school, and raging against the vapidity of an art world that would use his creative rage for its own amusement. At their best, Hirst's rants can be of a piece with his art: visceral, gut-wrenching, profoundly disturbing. Yet at times he simply prattles on ad nauseum. Rather than rein the artist in, interviewer Gordon Burn lets Hirst flail wildly, challenging him only when directly taunted; and Hirst seems to desire nothing so much as a loud pub brawl with a worthy adversary. Burn's polite questioning proves no match for his subject's wry vitriol and relentless bombast. What both Hirst and Burn understand quite clearly is the infuriating, mind-numbing business of celebrity, and its potential for warping an artist's work. In this respect, the book's first interview, dating from 1992, is heartbreaking: it's a talk with a precocious, cocky, smart Damien Hirst, just before he tumbled into the voracious maw of the international art scene. The subsequent interviews are often meandering and unfocused -- but not without some cynically brilliant bits. This portrait of an artist careening into jaded middle age is wildly entertaining at times, but it will certainly disappoint any readers hoping for profound insights on contemporary British art. At one point during an interview tirade, the artist opines: "You're either angry or you're boring." With ON THE WAY TO WORK, Damien Hirst manages to have it both ways.
4.0 out of 5 stars
-conversation sensation!-,
By "plasticheart" (Ga) - See all my reviews
This review is from: On the Way to Work (Hardcover)
I would recommend this book for only the deepest of Damien Hirst fans. It is mostly dialogue and photographs of him in his normal settings. The text is very interesting...I become so inspired I put it down immediately, and begin working on something. The book shows a realistic view into a truly remarkable artists mind.
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Most Helpful Customer Reviews on Amazon.com (beta) Amazon.com:
4.0 out of 5 stars (3 customer reviews) 11 of 13 people found the following review helpful
3.0 out of 5 stars
bad boy tells all,
By A Customer - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: On the Way to Work (Hardcover)
ON THE WAY TO WORK is not a book of interviews so much as a collection of Damien Hirst's angry rants on everything from art school to art dealers, Kurt Schwitters to Francis Bacon, drink, drugs, decay . . . and art. "I feel I've opened a can of worms in my own head," the artist states at one point. True enough. Hirst is at his best playing enfant-terrible/raconteur, spitting out stories of a hardscrabble childhood and grand-guignol adolescence, rejecting the polite aesthetics of art school, and raging against the vapidity of an art world that would use his creative rage for its own amusement. At their best, Hirst's rants can be of a piece with his art: visceral, gut-wrenching, profoundly disturbing. Yet at times he simply prattles on ad nauseum. Rather than rein the artist in, interviewer Gordon Burn lets Hirst flail wildly, challenging him only when directly taunted; and Hirst seems to desire nothing so much as a loud pub brawl with a worthy adversary. Burn's polite questioning proves no match for his subject's wry vitriol and relentless bombast. What both Hirst and Burn understand quite clearly is the infuriating, mind-numbing business of celebrity, and its potential for warping an artist's work. In this respect, the book's first interview, dating from 1992, is heartbreaking: it's a talk with a precocious, cocky, smart Damien Hirst, just before he tumbled into the voracious maw of the international art scene. The subsequent interviews are often meandering and unfocused -- but not without some cynically brilliant bits. This portrait of an artist careening into jaded middle age is wildly entertaining at times, but it will certainly disappoint any readers hoping for profound insights on contemporary British art. At one point during an interview tirade, the artist opines: "You're either angry or you're boring." With ON THE WAY TO WORK, Damien Hirst manages to have it both ways. 2 of 2 people found the following review helpful
5.0 out of 5 stars
Having a Pint with Damien.,
By MV - Published on Amazon.com
Amazon Verified Purchase(What's this?)
This review is from: On the Way to Work (Hardcover)
'On the Way to Work' is many things.It is a collection of conversations between Burn and Hirst. The conversations range from Hirst's love for Francis Bacon, to grumblings on his dealings with the media. But perhaps most importantly, 'On the Way to Work' is Hirst's manifesto. It is an insight into how he views his own art. This book is a great buy. If you are interested in Hirst, this book is essential. (For those looking for a book that showcases Hirst's art, I would recommend the fantastic: 'I want to spend the rest of my life everywhere...' ) 7 of 10 people found the following review helpful
4.0 out of 5 stars
-conversation sensation!-,
By "plasticheart" - Published on Amazon.com
This review is from: On the Way to Work (Hardcover)
I would recommend this book for only the deepest of Damien Hirst fans. It is mostly dialogue and photographs of him in his normal settings. The text is very interesting...I become so inspired I put it down immediately, and begin working on something. The book shows a realistic view into a truly remarkable artists mind.
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