Cover features controversial Damien Hirst butterfly Tattoo but is it any good?
The long awaited launch of Garage magazine will take place sometime next week. This is perhaps the most talked about art publication in the last decade. The monthly magazine, which covers art and fashion is edited by none other than Dasha Zhukova, who is a prominent figure on the international contemporary arts scene. For those of you that have been living in a cave, Zhukova founded, The Garage Center for Contemporary Culture in Moscow, which has become a prominent venue for modern and contemporary art. It is housed in one of Russia’s architectural masterpieces, the former Bakhmetevsky Bus Garage, designed in 1926 by the Constructivist architect, Konstanin Melnikov. Currently, the Garage Center is slated to open a satellite on New Holland Island, the recent purchase of Zhukova’s partner, the billionaire and Chelsea Football club owner, Roman Abramovich. In addition to supporting The Garage, the IRIS Foundation allows Dasha to pursue and execute arts projects throughout the world.
“The ‘INKED’ project is central to the first issue. It brings together artists Jeff Koons, Richard Prince, Paul McCarthy, John Baldessari and Hirst to design tattoos for the issue. The cover of the new magazine was designed by Damien Hirst and shows the lower body of a woman with a peel-able butterfly covering just the right places. The instructions, “Peel slowly and see,” How very Velvet Underground! Under the sticker, a tattoo also designed by Hirst, is revealed. Dinos Chapman tattooed his own right arm with the text “I’m With This Idiot.”a reference to his twin brother Jake? The sketches for the tattoos used by the tattoo artists in London, Los Angeles, and New York are now considered works of art; some are now the property of the Gagosian Gallery and may be exhibited at the Frieze Art Fair in London in October.
There were actually three alternative covers created, besides the Hirst cover, Dinos Chapman and renowned fashion photographer Nick Knight have created a puppet doll of fashion model Lily Donaldson looking inside a dolls house with a puppet of Lily Donaldson living inside and Richard Prince’s has also produced a cover which is a sketch of his cartoon smiling face tattoo cartoon.
Our verdict? From what we have seen, it’s full of quirky, fun art, by well established names. Will it rock the boat? Needs more emerging talent and less up-market fashion brands advertising. Do we like it? 7 out of 10 not bad!