Candy brings together the Visual Candy series by Damien Hirst (b.1965) and the candy spill work of Felix Gonzalez-Torres (1957-1996). The exhibition reveals the differing ways in which both artists explored the idea of candy during the 1990's. The spacious gallery is bursting at the seams with colour, projected from both the paintings on the walls and the individually wrapped, multi-coloured cellophane sweets on the floor.
Gonzales-Torres's candies surround the galleries central column forming a glittering circular carpet. The work encourages the viewer to interact with it, as a viewer you are allowed to touch, take and eat the candy resulting in the works continuous state of flux. During the private view children were writing their names in sweets on the floor, one guest took it a step too far though, throwing herself into Untitled, 1992, a pile of candy in the corner, before being swiftly escorted out of the building. Gonzales-Torres said his candy spills were about letting go, refusing to make a static form just as life itself is constantly changing.
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| Untitled, 1992, Gonzales-Torres |
Hirst's Visual Candy paintings, created between 1993 and 1995, were made in response to a critic who had slated his Spot Paintings as 'just visual candy.' Hirst's paintings such as Some Fun, 1993 and Dippy Dappy Dabby, 1993, question the idea that aesthetically pleasing art is insignificant.
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| Dippy Dappy Dabby, 1993, Damien Hirst |
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| Damien Hirst and his bling chain |
At first glance the paintings appear totally abstract though on closer inspection they are in fact depictions of medicinal pills, stylised representations of the psychological effects of mood-enhancing drugs. Hirst once said, 'in every painting there is a subliminal; sense of unease'; what with his paintings vibrant colours creating a feeling of surface optimism it is hard to pick up on the underlying darkness, the low that follows a high.
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