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The End of Fun: Jake & Dinos Chapman
Working together since their graduation from the Royal College of Art in 1990, the Chapman brothers are famous for their iconoclastic sculpture, prints and installations that examine contemporary politics, religion and morality with biting wit and energy. "End of Fun" leads on from the original Hell (1999) tabletop tableau that was destroyed in the Momart fire in 2004, and the later Fucking Hell (2008). A three-dimensional collage, "End of Fun" consists of thousands of plastic figurines, many dressed in Nazi regalia or enacting egregious acts of cruelty, displayed in nine glass cases or dioramas. Combining historical, religious and mythic narratives, "End of Fun" presents an apocalyptic snapshot of the twentieth century. This publication begins with a new essay by Will Self that explores both the historical interpretations of hell and how the theme has featured in the Chapman brothers' work.
- GenresArt
176 pages, Hardcover
First published August 7, 2013
23 people want to read
About the author
Will Self
184 books1,022 followersWilliam Self is an English novelist, reviewer and columnist. He received his education at University College School, Christ's College Finchley, and Exeter College, Oxford. He was married to the late journalist Deborah Orr.
Self is known for his satirical, grotesque and fantastic novels and short stories set in seemingly parallel universes.
Self is known for his satirical, grotesque and fantastic novels and short stories set in seemingly parallel universes.
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Displaying 1 of 1 review
May 15, 2016
Eisnein's No.9 Favorite Artist/Artbook. Check Out No.10 Right HERE. Go Back to No.1 HERE.
They lie for the fun of it, practicing pretentious poser-ese with certain interviewers, then tightening up the jargon for games of intellectual abstraction that typically end up as an ourobouros of Foucalt, Greenberg, and Duchamp-laden circular discussion, never quite hammering anything down as a reliable reference point. They're fucking liars, and they're good at fucking with people's heads. They buy up Goya's very rare print portfolio's, to 'improve' the art, adding grotesquely painted faces to the black and white engravings. This is sacrilege to some Goya fans, enough that more than one person blew a gasket. That, of course, is the point. I'm a Goya fan myself, and so are the Chapmans. I think Goya might have approved of the chaos and controversy they have unleashed on a stagnant art scene, and flattered to be their inspiration and ammunition so often. Come to think of it, probably not. I doubt Goya would 'get' modern art, despite the fact he's frequently isolated as patient zero.
They care about creating art that is drenched in context and emotional power, often returning to shock, always good for moments of pure reactionary anger, or laughter followed by guilt. This is bad art for bad people, straight up, bitch... and I'm one bad motherfucker myself*.
[*Or I try to be... you know, s-sometimes. If you'd like help being a badder motherfucker than you're currently able to manage, here's some Bad Art For Bad People. (Warning: Here there be dragons.)]
'The End of Fun' is a huge arrangement of vitrine-tanks, organized in the shape of a swastika when seen from above. Inside are thousands of corpses, zombies and walking skeletons, wandering around the richly detailed environments. Like its predecessor, 'Fucking Hell' (and the original 'Hell', which was one of many works destroyed when an art-storage facility was set ablaze by an arsonist), the varied settings almost seem to be writhing with bodies and pieces of bodies. Steep, brush-covered embankments drop to a narrow strip of beach bristling with stakes, each one with an impaled SS Stormtrooper or severed body part. The water is dark, but skeletal faces can be seen under the waves. Stephen Hawking and Hitler are present, and so are Ronald McDonald and his less popular cohorts, like the Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese. Hawking and the McDonald's crew are busy with a thriving weed-trafficking concern. Hitler's still doing his own thing, following his artistic calling into the afterlife. The Zygotic hybrids are lurking inside dilapidated buildings or playing on brush-covered hilltops. This hell looks like a concentration camp crossed with a Japanese POW camp, with anamolous constructions and geological formations. If this hell is custom-made to subject the architects and executioners behind the Final Solution to an endless anti-Nazi holocaust, why is Hitler spared the attention of the skeletal
demons? Is painting badly for all eternity his punishment?
Go directly to Fucking Hell, do not pass Go, do not collect 200$ (Turn down the volume before the final 20 seconds).
This monograph/exhibition catalog is a personal favorite, one of the coolest you're likely to see. It matches the format of the 'Fucking Hell' catalog, 6" x 9", this time with a blue cloth-bound cover. Published by White Cube and FUEL, it features a brilliant 13-page introduction by novelist-essayist Will Self, and devotes over 160 pages to photographing the myriads upon myriads of tiny details that make this work so absolutely stunning. You can talk in circles about the meanings and motivations behind the horrific imagery, but if you can't appreciate the imagination and effort, this isn't for you. This celebrates the years of work behind the project, and regardless what they say, there is a child-like pride in creating something so audacious. 'The End of Fun' is the second of three works, so they're up to their old tricks again, the liars; there's plenty of fun still to come.
Eisnein's No.9 Favorite Artist/Artbook. Check Out No.10 Right HERE. Go Back to No.1 HERE.
More Art-book Reviews
More Comic-book Reviews
More Novel Reviews
They lie for the fun of it, practicing pretentious poser-ese with certain interviewers, then tightening up the jargon for games of intellectual abstraction that typically end up as an ourobouros of Foucalt, Greenberg, and Duchamp-laden circular discussion, never quite hammering anything down as a reliable reference point. They're fucking liars, and they're good at fucking with people's heads. They buy up Goya's very rare print portfolio's, to 'improve' the art, adding grotesquely painted faces to the black and white engravings. This is sacrilege to some Goya fans, enough that more than one person blew a gasket. That, of course, is the point. I'm a Goya fan myself, and so are the Chapmans. I think Goya might have approved of the chaos and controversy they have unleashed on a stagnant art scene, and flattered to be their inspiration and ammunition so often. Come to think of it, probably not. I doubt Goya would 'get' modern art, despite the fact he's frequently isolated as patient zero.
They care about creating art that is drenched in context and emotional power, often returning to shock, always good for moments of pure reactionary anger, or laughter followed by guilt. This is bad art for bad people, straight up, bitch... and I'm one bad motherfucker myself*.
[*Or I try to be... you know, s-sometimes. If you'd like help being a badder motherfucker than you're currently able to manage, here's some Bad Art For Bad People. (Warning: Here there be dragons.)]
'The End of Fun' is a huge arrangement of vitrine-tanks, organized in the shape of a swastika when seen from above. Inside are thousands of corpses, zombies and walking skeletons, wandering around the richly detailed environments. Like its predecessor, 'Fucking Hell' (and the original 'Hell', which was one of many works destroyed when an art-storage facility was set ablaze by an arsonist), the varied settings almost seem to be writhing with bodies and pieces of bodies. Steep, brush-covered embankments drop to a narrow strip of beach bristling with stakes, each one with an impaled SS Stormtrooper or severed body part. The water is dark, but skeletal faces can be seen under the waves. Stephen Hawking and Hitler are present, and so are Ronald McDonald and his less popular cohorts, like the Hamburglar and Mayor McCheese. Hawking and the McDonald's crew are busy with a thriving weed-trafficking concern. Hitler's still doing his own thing, following his artistic calling into the afterlife. The Zygotic hybrids are lurking inside dilapidated buildings or playing on brush-covered hilltops. This hell looks like a concentration camp crossed with a Japanese POW camp, with anamolous constructions and geological formations. If this hell is custom-made to subject the architects and executioners behind the Final Solution to an endless anti-Nazi holocaust, why is Hitler spared the attention of the skeletal
demons? Is painting badly for all eternity his punishment?
Go directly to Fucking Hell, do not pass Go, do not collect 200$ (Turn down the volume before the final 20 seconds).
This monograph/exhibition catalog is a personal favorite, one of the coolest you're likely to see. It matches the format of the 'Fucking Hell' catalog, 6" x 9", this time with a blue cloth-bound cover. Published by White Cube and FUEL, it features a brilliant 13-page introduction by novelist-essayist Will Self, and devotes over 160 pages to photographing the myriads upon myriads of tiny details that make this work so absolutely stunning. You can talk in circles about the meanings and motivations behind the horrific imagery, but if you can't appreciate the imagination and effort, this isn't for you. This celebrates the years of work behind the project, and regardless what they say, there is a child-like pride in creating something so audacious. 'The End of Fun' is the second of three works, so they're up to their old tricks again, the liars; there's plenty of fun still to come.
Eisnein's No.9 Favorite Artist/Artbook. Check Out No.10 Right HERE. Go Back to No.1 HERE.
More Art-book Reviews
More Comic-book Reviews
More Novel Reviews
Displaying 1 of 1 review