Hirst's poor cut-up pig Debby Davis Visible Pig, 1984. Saatchi collection Hirst's spin painting (detail) Walter Robinson Black Spirit, 1985. Hirst's floating beachball. Hans Haacke Floating Sphere 1964 Hirst's revolving billboard Hirst's big ashtray Hirst's poor cut-up cow

damien hirst at larry gagosian by Edward Helmore Damien Hirst's circus of dismembered livestock, spin paintings and a beach ball held aloft by jets of air rolled into New York on Friday, May 4 [to June 15], to an art-world reception that has not been seen in the naked city for years. The show, which has delayed for six months over objections by the Sanitation Department to having rotting meat within their jurisdiction, packed in the heavy-hitters of Manhattan life and beyond. "It's like a fairground isn't it," said David Hockney, casting his eye over the show's principal attraction of two cows cut into slices and suspended sequentially in 12 formaldehyde-filled tanks. "This is like the attraction of 3-D photography." David Bowie, who likes to keep one of the artist's pieces--a pocket-size pickled fish--near him at all times, remarked that the show marked Hirst's conquest of America. "He made it an hour ago," he said, an hour into the opening. "You won't see him for dust now." Frockmeister Gianni Versace and Vogue queen Anna Wintour agreed that though desirable, the 40-foot-long, revolving tri-vision advertising hording, titled The Problems with Relationships and depicting one screen of Vaseline and a cucumber followed by another of a hammer and peach, was too big for their living rooms. Gallery proprietor Larry Gagosian, who may be America's most prominent contemporary art dealer, enthused that the energy at the opening "just came off the walls." "It reminds me of the East Village in its heyday or the Jean-Michel Basquiat show in Los Angeles in 1982. This crosses all borders because people respond to authenticity and strength and it's a good kick in the ass for American artists." Later at a party, Hirst's London dealer, Jay Jopling, attempted to explain the triumph." He's made a show that is brash, confident and, perversely enough, feels very American. I hope people here are provoked by the work as much as they are back in England." Though most of the pieces at the show are new works, they derive from ideas that the artist has already followed in European exhibitions. "It's a celebration of the obvious because every one of those pieces is something he has done before but made larger," remarked Clarissa Dalrymple. "The way that it is installed has a maze-like quality." Hirst, attended by his mother and sister, was asked to clarify the title of the cow piece, Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything. He said explained it simply by noting that it was "worth a lot of money." Meanwhile, Hirst's mother said that her son's preoccupation with Lego as a child had paid off. "It's exhilarating and I am so proud. To me he's still my little boy." Damian Hirst at Larry Gagosian, 136 Wooster Street, till June 15, 1996. Edward Helmore is the New York correspondent for the London Observer.