Yep, that’s a real title. A real title for a fictional shipwreck from which Damien Hirst plans to “excavate” “objects” and then paint them in “still lifes.” The Era of Formaldehyde (two decades, to be precise, starting with the Charles Saatchi-commissioned shark in 1991) is declared dead in the water, according to a Bloomberg interview with the artist on the eve of his latest Gagosian exhibition. That show, aptly titled End of an Era, includes a pickled bull’s head with gilded horns and blinged-out wunderkabinet filled with 27,888 manufactured diamonds.
Peep the undercover Babelgum video of the Gagosian opening after the jump, plus some priceless quotes from the Hirster himself.
