The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011

Artists are supposed to hate art market extravaganzas like the Damien Hirst circus. Collectors are meant to love it. For those who describe art, it's difficult to consider the work without first mentioning the Spot gift shop that includes Spot skate decks by Supreme, a Spot credit card holder and iron-on Spot patches. No, we're not kidding. And if the fact that hundreds of Hirst paintings have been called in from around the globe to be shown at every one of the Gagosian galleries seems like some art world scavenger hunt to you, it is: going to all of them, The Complete Spot Challenge, entitles you to a signed Spot print, dedicated to you alone. It will be riveting to see what those fetch at auction in 2062. As for the actual show, the safety in numbers thing certainly doesn't hold. Few of the works succeed, although it's impossible to imagine having an honest experience of them in the current setting. There are paintings, like Erbium Oxide, that hint at greatness, and Oleic Acid Ethyl Ester is wonderful. There are other pictures that have something to say, but the bulk of them do not, and the tiny pin-dot canvases on 21st Street would need to be gargantuan to make their point. So if you don't need a primer in abstraction, feel no pressure to remain adrift in Hirst's sea of tertiary colors. But if you find yourself galled by Hirst's simplicity of gesture, it might be good to remember that Larry Poons had a respectable run with ellipses, although you rarely hear his name anymore.