• 'Tamed' summer exhibition featuring Damien Hirst comes to Torre Abbey..from 6th July 2010.
    25/03/2010

     

    CONTROVERSIAL HIRST PIECE COMES

    TO THE ENGLISH RIVIERA

    VENICE " LONDON " TOKYO " OSLO " 

    NOW "TORQUAY"

    This year Torbay Council is borrowing from Tate and the Arts Council Collection for an exhibition for the Spanish Barn, Torre Abbey that includes a work by one of the world’s most intriguing, infamous and controversial artists.

     

    Following on from the staggering success of Antony Gormley’s Field For The British Isles installation last year,  a work by Damien Hirst  is set to literally, divide opinion.

     

    "It is a controversial piece of art which will stir debate and inspire visitors and local communities. I hope this will build on the success of last years Gormley exhibition which helped generated hundreds of thousands of pounds worth of press coverage and investment from visitors, and inspired so many schools, attractions and individuals to get involved.

     

    “Damien Hirst is such a well known artist and this is a fantastic opportunity for not just for Torre Abbey, but the whole of the Bay. It will help boost the council's long-term plan to be an exciting space for contemporary art and a leading light amongst seaside cultural hotspots.”  (Cllr Dave Butt, Torbay Council)

     

     

    The work is a floor-based sculpture, weighing 6.5 tonnes (the weight of a London Routemaster bus) comprising  a cow and a calf, each cut in half and preserved in a pair of glass-walled tanks in a formaldehyde solution. Mother and Child, Divided  was created for exhibition at the 1993 Venice Biennale and was subsequently the focal point of the 1995 Turner Prize at Tate Britain (then The Tate Gallery), the year that Hirst won the prize.

    Copyright Tate, London 2010

    Amelia Mariette at Torre Abbey's Spanish Barn

    Copyright Tate, London 2010

News