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I would like to point one thing out. I am not a big fan of the Chapman brothers. I find most of their work a little dull, or too heavily laden with achingly trendy shock values. But their incredible project, "Hell", had me utterly gob-smacked and massively impressed.
Consisting of eight model landscapes, approximately 3'x5' each, the aptly named installation depicts an incredibly graphic vision of eternal pain with the help of over 5000 miniature people; all of whom are individually hand painted and cast. Characters generally consist of skeletons, naked men and men in Nazi uniform; usually wrapped up in a grim 'what would have happened if the Nazis won' holocaust-style mass execution in the goriest ways possible. The weird thing was that nobody seemed to be the real perpetrators; there were almost as many Nazis being tortured as anyone else. It's so systematic, but there's nobody in charge. Crucifixions, impaling, burning, gassing, trampling, shooting, hanging - all of it makes for a harrowing image; all done with such care and attention that I couldn't look away. It reminded me of a boys game of toy soldiers gone horribly wrong. But something odd started to happen to me as I looked at this spectacle. I became accustomed to it, finding a morbid sense of humour imprinted throughout the models. There was the man with his head stuck in the railings. The man who looked like a comic book character as he contemplated suicide at the top of a watch-tower. There was a skeleton driving happily around on a motorcycle as others around him were being gutted. And let's not forget the Nazi with a clipboard going about his murderous business, but with no trousers on. It was a labour of love, a two-year mammoth project filled with almost as much absurdity as gore. The explaination said that it was made in model form because people were becoming desensitised to violence on television. It said that people needed to see gore in 3D to be horrified anymore. I suppose this is true, but I don't think that was the reason. I think this was a lad project. That is, the Chapman brothers, like so many guys, have a love of toy soldiers. They used this to create something thought provoking, intelligent and fascinating. It truly has to be seen to be believed. In other words, well done you crazy brothers.
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