SENSATION: The show that shocked a nation
15 years ago, the YBAs collectively wowed the world with SENSATION exhibition that focused on what shocks us. Eggs were thrown, controversy swept the tabloids and the over-18s room made Jake and Dinos Chapman household names. Beautiful Crime looks back at five of our favourite works that helped push these artists to the forefront of contemporary art.
‘Myra’ by Marcus Harvey
The piece that got much of the attention at the show was ‘Myra,’ an image rendered using children’s hand prints. Outrage ensued and protesters gave it some egg and ink action. Mothers Against Murder and Aggression asked for it to be removed and so incidentally, did Hindley.
'Myra' by Marcus Harvey, 1995.
‘Zygotic acceleration, biogenetic, de-sublimated libidinal model’ by Jake and Dinos Chapman
More offence was caused when the phallus-faced multi-adjoined mannequin children managed to gather queues of people outside the over-18s room at the Royal Academy. A reflection of the extreme mutation of modern art at the time?
'Zygotic acceleration, biogenetic, de-sublimated libidinal model' by Jake and Dinos Chapman, 1995
‘Au Naturel’ by Sarah Lucas, 1994.
Sarah Lucas has become an expert at the strand of art which tackles the ‘found object.’ A dirty mattress, bucket and fruit never had so much attention – barring Tracey Emin’s unmade bed of course.
'Au Naturel' by Sarah Lucas, 1994.
‘Dead Dad’ by Ron Mueck
Had it not have been for the smaller than life size scale of this sculpture / model making mastery the hyper-realistic ‘Dead Dad’ would have had people running scared out of the RA.
'Dead Dad' by Ron Mueck, 1996-7.
‘Self’ by Marc Quinn
If you feel a bit queasy at the sight of blood, turn away now. Marc Quinn’s 3D blood portrait featured a life-sized model of his own head, made exclusively from his own blood. That’s a lot of blood. The bloody head had to remain frozen throughout the show… not one for your mantelpiece then.
'Self' by Marc Quinn, 1990.