Should St Paul’s host a Hirst?

Charlotte Appleyard breaks the news that Britain’s most controversial artist has been commissioned by the nation’s favourite cathedral

In early November we can expect, if not murder, then certainly uproar in the cathedral, when an ‘important’ new work by Damien Hirst is unveiled. St Paul’s, that great symbol of all that’s best about Britain, is set to play host to an artist many believe represents all that’s worst. Details of the work itself are not available yet — in fact even approaching the staff at St Paul’s provoked mild panic: how had I found out? What did I know? But one thing we can at least be certain about: Damien Hirst is unlikely to break his bonds with controversy. Though even cash-strapped St Paul’s wouldn’t go as far as actual sacrilege, the work is bound to be contentious.

So here is another controversial thought: maybe this isn’t just a bid for cheap publicity, perhaps it’s a courageous commission and an important milestone in the nation’s history of art?

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Hirst is not an entirely inappropriate choice for the cathedral. In 1994 he produced a preserved cow called Prodigal Son and his most recent show at White Cube with the infamous diamond skull was christened For the Love of God. It’s not the first time his work has appeared in a church either. In 2007, All Hallows in the City of London exhibited his pill cabinets alongside hearts sliced with razor blades and a triptych of butterfly paintings behind the altar. At the time he was quoted as referring to his gruesome formaldehyde-preserved beasts as crucifixions, and he used severed cow heads to represent the apostles. The work has revealed him to be, despite his self-proclaimed lapsed Catholicism, a happy hostage to religious forms.