The idea of paradise has inspired the artistic imagination in, at least, two directions. One is an impulse to create a more perfect tomorrow by addressing social ills today. The other is sometimes manifest in a desire to recover a lost spiritual consciousness or creative imagination. These directions are evidenced in the work of two contemporary artists. In an exhibition entitled Tomorrow is Another Day , created for the 2017 Venice Biennale, Los Angeles-based artist Mark Bradford draws the viewer toward an imagined social horizon, beyond which dawns a more perfect world. Simultaneously on view in Venice, but not a part of the Biennale, Damien Hirst’s Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable explores a rapacious hunger for immortality. Purporting to be the salvage of an ancient shipwreck, Hirst’s exhibition tests the modern, post-enlightenment, viewer’s willingness, even ability, to believe.

中文翻译：

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当代英美艺术中的天堂主题

天堂的思想至少在两个方向激发了艺术的想象力。一种冲动是通过解决当今的社会弊端来创造更完美的明天。另一个有时表现为渴望恢复失去的精神意识或创造性想象力。这些方向在两位当代艺术家的作品中得到了证明。在为2017年威尼斯双年展创作的名为``明天是另一天''的展览中，洛杉矶艺术家马克·布拉德福德（Mark Bradford）将观众引向一个想象中的社会视野，超越此视野，人们将看到一个更加完美的世界。在威尼斯同时展出，但不是双年展的一部分，达米安·赫斯特的《难以置信的残骸中的宝藏》探索了对永生的渴望。赫斯特（Hirst）的展览旨在挽救古代沉船，对现代启蒙运动进行了测试，