White Rabbit: XSWL
Look through the front window of White Rabbit Gallery, and you’ll find yourself confronted with a life-sized shark suspended from a metal frame. White Shark (2013) is the work of Taiwanese artist, Liao Chien-Chung, but it instantly conjures up thoughts of Damian Hirst’s The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), the 4.3 metre shark in a tank of formaldehyde that put this British artist on the map when exhibited by influential collector, Charles Saatchi, in the early 1990s.
Since then, Hirst has become one of the richest and most successful artists in the world - with a personal fortune that would make him a billionaire in Australian dollars. In 2004, Saatchi sold the shark to hedge fund tycoon, Steve Cohen for US$8 million, although some believe the price may have been as high as US$12 million.
Infamously, the shark was by then a soggy ruin, but Hirst said: “No problem, we’ll make a new one,” confirming that he was selling the concept rather than the object.
Liao’s work is an elaborate satire on Hirst’s installation and the rarefied workings of the art market. His shark is made from fibreglass, not flesh-and-bone, ensuring it will never decay. It has no teeth, rendering it harmless. Look into its beady glass eye and you’ll see a ridiculous video of the artist trying to surf on its back.