Damien Hirst, Cocaine Hydrochloride
gobelin realized by: Radomir Stojanović, 2006
114,200 stitches
37.5 cm x 37.5 cm
2006 (1993)
The New Gobelin Series, to which Damien Hirst, Cocaine Hydrochloride belongs, is a project that reveals schematic patterns for making gobelins after the paintings of some most important artists of the twentieth century, from the masterpieces by Malevich, Mondrian, Fontana, Albers, On Cawara, Hirst, Christopher Wool (minimalist, abstract and geometric) – all the way to Yves Klein’s monochrome canvas, which completely destroys the whole point of embroidering, destroys every pleasure of putting together a thread that gives the illusion of the third dimension – figuration. New Gobelin is something new, as the author himself states – a luxurious reproduction or even more luxurious original.
The concept of the New Gobelin Project is a very thoughtful and good projection of the modern moment. No matter how much everything seems as a good joke at first glance, it is clearly a social provocation. With his work, the author very consciously presents and expresses the meanings, values and beliefs of civil and consumer society, with a committed approach in expressing his idea. The importance of the aesthetics of the gobelin scheme itself, that is, the entire product, is emphasized. The focus on aesthetics in technical tidiness is evident. Each work individually, with the slogan “Make art for you” testifies to the author’s aspiration to make everything perfectly “packaged” and tempting to the modern consumer, by the aesthetic standards of good modern design, so that it becomes a desirable commodity. The New Gobelin Series also includes: Lucio Fontana, Concetto spaziale attesa, 1956, 2007, 99,000 stitches, 40 cm x 50 cm // Kazimir Malevich, Black Square on White, 1914/15, 2006, 102,400 stitches, 36,5 cm x 36,5 cm // Piet Mondrian, Composition No. 9 with Yellow and Red, 1942, 2006, 99,000 stitches, 33 cm x 38.5 cm. Marko Stojanović often points out that his interest in gobelins dates back to his early childhood, since he was surrounded by precious and luxurious gobelins, made by his grandfather, who stitched Wiehler gobelins all his life. The artist’s father also made gobelins, which, logically, inspired him to somehow continue the family tradition, cherished exclusively by male family members. All the works in the New Gobelin Cycle were realized by the artist’s grandfather Radomir Stojanović.
© Cultural Centre of Belgrade, the October Salon Collection and the artist
Purchase Contract: Legal basis: purchase from the City of Belgrade Competition, the Mayor’s Conclusion No. 6-1382/09-G – 12.9.2009.
Inventory No. 214
Photo: Milan Kralj
Selected Bibliography:
48th October Salon, Micro-Narratives. Cultural Centre of Belgrade, 2007
Andrej Tišma, Vez po modernizmu, review of the exhibition (artist’s archive), Novi Sad, 2006
Slađana Varagić Petrović, „Šeme za Novi goblen”, Artmagazin.info, October 2005 http://www.artmagazin.info/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=118&Itemid=35 (accessed on May. 15, 2020)
ABOUT THE AUTHOR:
Marko Stojanović (1982, Negotin, Serbia) graduated from the Academy of Arts in Novi Sad, with the Art Clinic’s Perspectives IV Award. As a representative of the Novi Sad Academy of Arts, he stayed at the Lasalle-Sia College of the Arts in Singapore and the Academy of Arts of the University of Veracruz in Mexico. In August and September 2019, he participated in the Homesession residential programme in Barcelona. More information at http://www.markostojan.com/