Pietsch, Hans

ART: das Kunstmagazin (Germany), no. 10, Oct. 2000, pp. 78-81, (7 colour)

Considers the installation Hell (1999-2000; illus.) by the British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, which featured at the exhibition Apocalypse: Beauty and Horror in Contemporary Art at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (23 Sept.-15 Dec. 2000). The author describes the Chapmans' creation of an apocalyptic and grotesque scene in which tin soldiers representing the SS suffer the same fate as that which the executioners of the Holocaust during the Nazi dictatorship inflicted on their victims. He outlines the sometimes negative public reaction to the installation, which was even more provocative than the Chapmans' earlier works, and which on closer examination appears as a type of Armageddon, a final battle between evil and even greater evil. He explores the essential irony and ambiguity of the Chapmans' art and notes the presence at the exhibition of work by the American artists Jeff Koons and Richard Prince, the Belgian painter Luc Tuymans, and the London-based German photographer Wolfgang Tillmans. He concludes by commenting on the `Sea of Darwin', the only optimistic part of the installation, which includes a lead figure of the disabled British physicist Stephen Hawking.

Eriksson, Yvonne

Paletten (Sweden), vol. 61, no. 1, 2000, pp. 7-9, 7 illus. (4 colour)

Discusses the use of images of handicapped, mutilated or genetically damaged human bodies in art in a positive sense, include Jake and Dinos Chapman's installation Zygotic Acceleration, Biogenetic, De-sublimated Libidinal Model (1995), Mary Duffy's Cutting the Ties that Bind (1987), Corinna Holthusen's `plastic surgery' photographs combining human body parts and dolls, Orlan's computer manipulations and images of plastic surgery on her own body, and Cindy Sherman's metaphors for women's exposed and vulnerable situation. The author suggests that the classical ideal of bodily perfection is outdated, but that attempts to replace it with new images of unconventional beauty, as in Elisabeth Ohlson's exhibition En Garde (1999) of photographs of handicapped women embodying love and sensuality, confuse the issue by raising ethical questions alongside metaphorical representations.

Gayford, Martin

Modern Painters (U.K.), vol. 13, no. 3, Autumn 2000, pp. 88-9, (2 colour)

On the occasion of the exhibition Apocalypse: Beauty and Horror in Contemporary Art on show at the Royal Academy of Arts in London (23 Sept.-15 Dec. 2000), considers the role of horror and shock tactics in traditional and contemporary art. The author observes that shock and horror have always featured in art and literature, with reference to works including Manet's Olympia (1863; illus.), and asserts that Hell (2000; illus.) by Jake and Dinos Chapman, which depicts the atrocities of the Holocaust, and a work by Maurizio Cattelan showing the Pope being struck by a meteorite, will provoke contention amongst some viewers at the exhibition. He analyses the reasons why art shocks, asserting the role of cultural conditioning and the novelty factor, refers to contemporary feminist criticism of Renaissance nudes, highlights horrific elements in traditional Christian imagery, and considers the relationship between media presentation of sex and violence and the relative decrease in condoned violence such as capital punishment in Western societies. He concludes by asserting that the most significant shock factor of modern art has been revolutions in form and subsequent reassessments of the definition of art.

Freedman, Carl

Frieze (U.K.), no. 42, Sept.-Oct. 1998, pp. 62-3, (9 colour)

Discusses what the portfolios produced by the British artists Jake and Dinos Chapman in Sept. 1998 for their ordinary level art examination - typically taken at secondary school, and first taken by them 15 years earlier - reveal about the ability of the British art education system to identify and promote artistic talent, and of the current style of these two artists. The author describes some of the works in these portfolios, including a technically competent, fairytale landscape in oil and pencil drawings of everyday things by Dinos, a self-portrait by Jake made of cornflakes which reveals a teenager's angst, and enervated watercolours by Jake in response to an assignment about contemporary awareness. He finds sufficient similarities in their work at ordinary level standard and their work as professional artists - both show the same melding of critique and delinquency - to consider questioning the value and purpose of the art college education students typically receive between secondary school and the start of their professional career. He concludes by asserting that the notions of skill and craftsmanship that underpin the requirements of school art examinations have no useful value on their own in the context of contemporary art, and that art education should evolve to reflect the concerns of contemporary art.

Hilty, Greg (Interviewer)

Art Press (France), no. 234, April 1998, pp. 38-42, (4 colour)

In interview, British artists Dinos and Jake Chapman discuss the influences and ideas behind their distinctive and often controversial work. They consider their analysis of morality in The Disasters of War (1993), a piece taking its title and imagery from a painting by Goya, and emphasize their desire to produce works which are essentially amoral and flexible, not limited by any conventional moral framework. They reflect on the elements of display and overt sexuality in their works, consider their use of horror and shock tactics to explore the correlation between boredom, pleasure and danger, and place their work in the context of the wider art world. They explore their use of child groupings as a motif in their art and conclude by commenting on the effect of using ready-made figures in their work.