Chapmans, Hirst, Emin etc

[metropolis_part_one]

I wonder what peoples' opinions are of the aforementioned artists works, specifically the Chapmans' Goya works (their 'Disasters of War' plates, 'Great Deeds Against the Dead' sculpture and 'Death' to name a few of their more cotroversial works, Hirsts' formaldehyde animals such as 'The Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (aka the shark), and of course Emins' Tent and Unmade Bed etc.
What is the general consensus of modern art by YBAs here? Are the aforementioned artists known at all in the USA? What about Turk and Whitread? Do people generally like / dislike Saatchi, and if so why?
I am just curious to know what people think of modern art here since there seems to be little discussion of them at all in this forum.

[JamesM]

Caveat: I claim no particular knowledge or appreciation of art, modern or otherwise. I'm not a big fan of traditional art, but while I appreciate modern art like I appreciate the intellectual conceit of a Borges short story, I'm not sure I exactly like it, either. Anyway.

I think a lot of the YBA seems pretty tired now. It's about as fashionable as Britpop, which is a bit unfortunate for something which is so caught up with ideas of being trendy and now and modern.

I liked 'Great Deeds Against the Dead', maybe just because it was macabre. I also quite liked that tableau of hell the Chapmans made with the Nazis being tortured done with miniatures. Its scale was certainly impressive. I can't remember what exhibition that was at, it was like a knock-off of Sensation, it was at the Royal Academy of Arts, I think. It had that sculpture of the Pope being hit by a meterorite.

For all the hoo-ha about the shark, I think Hirst's work with coloured dots will be seen as significant. It was certainly co-opted by the advertising world pretty quickly.

I'm a bit of a philistine, in case you hadn't noticed.