aka Design Dude

I was reminded this morning of Damien Hirst’s absurd “Party Time,” which consisted of an eight-foot-diameter ashtray simply loaded with ash, smoke cigarette butts, and empty packages of cigarettes. I recall seeing Hirst being interviewed on “60 Minutes” during “Sensation” and seeing him sitting on the edge of the giant ashtray, smoking and ashing into the sculpture. It was a pretty poignant intro to YBAs, which I was mostly unfamiliar with at the time. I think this piece, and how Hirst regarded it so casually, really opened me up to an irreverent world of art-as-fun that I mostly got as the real message of Young British Art. [image via kmhinkle]