- Highlights from the art world at a glance
- Art chosen by our expert curators
- Personal invitations to exclusive exhibitions
- Two issues a year, absolutely free
Damien Hirst
At the beginning there was a dot. Circular, neither too large nor too small, unimposing, coloured. One dot, plain and simple. It stood on the wall of a warehouse in London, an area converted into an exhibition space. Other dots soon appeared around this dot, equidistant from one another, painted onto the wall. A square grid of coloured… Read more
Intro Bio Exhibitions
Background Information about Damien Hirst
Introduction
At the beginning there was a dot. Circular, neither too large nor too small, unimposing, coloured. One dot, plain and simple. It stood on the wall of a warehouse in London, an area converted into an exhibition space. Other dots soon appeared around this dot, equidistant from one another, painted onto the wall. A square grid of coloured dots emerged. To prove how diverse such a grid of coloured dots could be, Damien Hirst painted a second next to it. They were called “Edge” and “Row”.
The effect was so effortlessly successful, the focus on a theme so profound. How can colours so concentrated, so bare, and yet so full of meaning, become art, become an image style? “Edge” and “Row” were both a product and the beginning of an artistic approach to colour that has been continually evolving since 1988.
Some of the grids remind us of medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. The soft pastel colours and uniform patterns of the coloured pills suggest a pain-free zone. The cryptic title given to the series by Hirst is also evocative of pharmaceutical ingredients. They have names that, were you to place them next to one another and read aloud, would sound like a poem in concrete prose: Mepromate Lepidine Histidyl - Abalone Acetone Powder.
The transferability of meaning and the transformation of content is very much in keeping with the style of the artist. One might recall the live tiger shark Hirst submerged in formalin in 1991. A silent killer of the deepest oceans, it looked out at the viewers from inside an enormous blue container, mouth wide open, teeth razor sharp. The threatening work was given the name “The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living”. Can anyone divide public opinion and whip the global art market into a frenzy in such a way? In 2007 he produced a human skull made from platinum and encrusted with 8601 pure diamonds, including a 52 carat diamond centrepiece mounted on the forehead. The skull was bought by an investment group for around $100 million. The plot thickened as we later learned that Hirst himself was a member of the group.
Hirst’s art is created to be ambivalent and revolves around a focal point in his thinking: “I’ve got an obsession with death … But I think it’s like a celebration of life rather than something morbid”. Whether preserving animals in formalin, creating kaleidoscopic images from butterflies, or covering skull x-rays with captivating colour mixtures, the young Tate Modern artist always manages to give death a smile.
Stephan Reisner
The effect was so effortlessly successful, the focus on a theme so profound. How can colours so concentrated, so bare, and yet so full of meaning, become art, become an image style? “Edge” and “Row” were both a product and the beginning of an artistic approach to colour that has been continually evolving since 1988.
Some of the grids remind us of medicines in the pharmaceutical industry. The soft pastel colours and uniform patterns of the coloured pills suggest a pain-free zone. The cryptic title given to the series by Hirst is also evocative of pharmaceutical ingredients. They have names that, were you to place them next to one another and read aloud, would sound like a poem in concrete prose: Mepromate Lepidine Histidyl - Abalone Acetone Powder.
The transferability of meaning and the transformation of content is very much in keeping with the style of the artist. One might recall the live tiger shark Hirst submerged in formalin in 1991. A silent killer of the deepest oceans, it looked out at the viewers from inside an enormous blue container, mouth wide open, teeth razor sharp. The threatening work was given the name “The physical impossibility of death in the mind of someone living”. Can anyone divide public opinion and whip the global art market into a frenzy in such a way? In 2007 he produced a human skull made from platinum and encrusted with 8601 pure diamonds, including a 52 carat diamond centrepiece mounted on the forehead. The skull was bought by an investment group for around $100 million. The plot thickened as we later learned that Hirst himself was a member of the group.
Hirst’s art is created to be ambivalent and revolves around a focal point in his thinking: “I’ve got an obsession with death … But I think it’s like a celebration of life rather than something morbid”. Whether preserving animals in formalin, creating kaleidoscopic images from butterflies, or covering skull x-rays with captivating colour mixtures, the young Tate Modern artist always manages to give death a smile.
Stephan Reisner
Bio
| 1965 | Born in Bristol, UK |
| 1986-1989 | Goldsmith College „Fine Arts“ |
| 1988 | Curator of the exhibition „Freeze“, Surrey Docks, London, UK |
| 1990 | Curator of the exhibition „Modern Medicine“, Building One, London, UK |
| 2007 | The artwork “For the Love of God” is sold for € 75 Million and is the most expensive work of contemporary art according to British media reports |
| Lives in Devon and has Studios in London, Gloucester and Devon, UK |
Awards
| 1995 Turner Prize |
Exhibitions
| 2012 | Damien Hirst. Retrospective at Tate Modern, London, UK |
| Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, Gagosian Gallery, New York, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rom, Genf, Athen, Hong Kong | |
| Damien Hirst Donation, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Dänemark | |
| 2011 | Damien Hirst: Artist Rooms, Tate Britain, London, UK |
| 2010 | Cornucopia, Musée océanographique de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| For the Love of God, Palazzo Vecchio, Florenz, Italien | |
| 2009 | Nothing Matters, White Cube/ Huxton Square/ Mason Yard, London, UK |
| 2008 | Requiem, PinchukArtCentre, Kiew, Ukraine For the Love of God, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Niederlande |
| Damien Hirst, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, USA | |
| 2007 | Damien Hirst: Life, Death and Love, Kunsthuset Kabuso, Øystese, Norwegen |
| Damien Hirst: Four Works from the Board Art Foundation, Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA | |
| 2006 | The Death of God – Towards a Better Understanding of a Life Without God Aboard the Ship of Fools, Galeria Hilario Galguera, Mexico City, Mexiko |
| 2005 | Damien Hirst, Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo, Norwegen |
| A Selection of Works by Damien Hirst from Various Collections, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA | |
| 2004 | The Agony and the Ecstasy: Selected Works from 1989 – 2004, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Neapel, Italien |
| 2003 | Romance in the Age of Uncertainty, White Cube/Hoxton Square, London, UK |
| Group Exhibitions (Selection): | |
| 2012 | Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA |
| Art and Press, ZKM/ Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Deutschland | |
| 12 Rooms: Ruhr Triennale 2012, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Deutschland | |
| British Design 1948 – 2012: Innovation in the Modern Age, Victoria Albert Museum, London, UK | |
| Made in Britain: Modern Art from the British Council Collection, Benaki Museum, Athen, Griechenland | |
| 2011 | O’Clock: time design, design time, Triennale di Milano, Mailand, Italien |
| In the Name of the Artists – American Contemporary Art from the Astrup Fearnley Collection, Bienal pavilion, Sao Paulo, Brasilien | |
| Selected works from the Francois Pinault Collection: Agony and Ecstasy, ongeun Artspace, Seoul, Korea | |
| Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan | |
| Fondazione Prada _ Ca'Corner della Regina, Prada Foundation, Venedig, Italien | |
| The Luminous Interval, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spanien | |
| 2010 | Plus Ultra, Macro, Rom, Italien |
| Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun?, Haunch of Vension, Berlin, Deutschland | |
| I LOVE YOU, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Arhus, Dänemark | |
| C’est la vie: Vanités de Caravage à Damien Hirst, Musée Maillol, Paris, Frankreich | |
| 2009 | BAROCK – Art, Science, Faith and Technology in the Contemporary Age, MADRE, Neapel, Italien |
| Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Pop Life, Tate Modern, London, UK, 2010 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Deutschland | |
| 15 Years of Collecting - Against the Grain, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Deutschland | |
| Spridd isolerad konst (Scattered and Isolated Art), Kalmar Art Museum, Kalmar, Schweden | |
| 2008 | Drei. Das Triptychon In Der Moderne, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Deutschland |
| Art, Price and Value – Contemporary art and the market, Palazzo Strozzi, Florenz, Italien | |
| Statuephilia, British Museum, London, UK | |
| END GAME – British Contemporary Art from the Chaney Family Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA | |
| Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK | |
| Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, MOMA, New York, USA | |
| The Inaugural Installation, Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, Los Angeles, USA | |
| 2007 | Art Machines – Machine Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/M, Deutschland |
| Reflection, PinchukArtCentre, Kiew, Ukraine Turner Prize: A Retrospective, Tate Britain, London, UK | |
| Contemporary and Cutting Edge: Pleasures of Collecting, Part III, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, USA | |
| David Bailey & Damien Hirst: The Stations of the Cross, Essl Museum of Contemporary Art, Wien, Österreich | |
| RE-OBJECT, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Österreich | |
| Draw, Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesborough, UK | |
| 2006 | Aftershock: Contemporary British Art, 1990-2006, Guangdong Museum of Art, Peking, China |
| The François Pinault Collection, a Post-Pop Selection, Palazzo Grassi, Venedig, Italien | |
| RADAR: Selections from the Collection of Vicki & Kent Logan, Denver Art Museum, USA | |
| Visitaciones, Museo de San Carlos, Mexico City, Mexiko | |
| Into Me / Out of Me, PS1 MOMA, New York, USA | |
| Tokyo Blossoms: Deutsche Bank Collection meets Zaha Hadid, Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 2005 | Rückkehr ins All/ Return to Space, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Deutschland |
| Douglas Gordon’s The Vanity of Allegory, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Deutschland | |
| Contemporary Voices: Works from the UBS Art Collection, MOMA, New York, USA | |
| Prague Biennale 2, Prag, Tschechien | |
| 2004 | From Moore to Hirst: Sixty Years of British Sculpture, National Museum Of Art, Bukarest, Rumänien |
| Intra-muros, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nizza, Frankreich | |
| Works and Days: Acquisitions for the Louisiana Collection 2000-2004, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Dänemark | |
| Monument To Now, Nea Ionia Exhibition Space, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athen, Griechenland | |
| La Collection d’Art Contemporain D’Agnes B, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, Frankreich | |
| Secrets of the ‘90s, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem, Arnhem, Niederlande | |
| In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Tate Britain, London, UK | |
| Turning Points: 20th Century British Sculpture, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Teheran, Iran | |
| 2003 | Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer, 50. Biennale Venedig, Italien |
| 1997 | Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK |
| 1988 | Freeze, Surrey Docks, London, UK |
Solo Exhibitions
| 2012 | Damien Hirst. Retrospective at Tate Modern, London, UK |
| Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986-2011, Gagosian Gallery, New York, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rom, Genf, Athen, Hong Kong | |
| Damien Hirst Donation, Arken Museum of Modern Art, Ishøj, Dänemark | |
| 2011 | Damien Hirst: Artist Rooms, Tate Britain, London, UK |
| 2010 | Cornucopia, Musée océanographique de Monaco, Monte Carlo, Monaco |
| For the Love of God, Palazzo Vecchio, Florenz, Italien | |
| 2009 | Nothing Matters, White Cube/ Huxton Square/ Mason Yard, London, UK |
| 2008 | Requiem, PinchukArtCentre, Kiew, Ukraine For the Love of God, Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam, Niederlande |
| Damien Hirst, Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, USA | |
| 2007 | Damien Hirst: Life, Death and Love, Kunsthuset Kabuso, Øystese, Norwegen |
| Damien Hirst: Four Works from the Board Art Foundation, Portland Art Museum, Portland, USA | |
| 2006 | The Death of God – Towards a Better Understanding of a Life Without God Aboard the Ship of Fools, Galeria Hilario Galguera, Mexico City, Mexiko |
| 2005 | Damien Hirst, Astrup Fearnley Museet fur Moderne Kunst, Oslo, Norwegen |
| A Selection of Works by Damien Hirst from Various Collections, Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, USA | |
| 2004 | The Agony and the Ecstasy: Selected Works from 1989 – 2004, Museo Archeologico Nazionale di Napoli, Neapel, Italien |
| 2003 | Romance in the Age of Uncertainty, White Cube/Hoxton Square, London, UK |
Group Exhibitions
| 2012 | Regarding Warhol: Sixty Artists, Fifty Years, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, USA |
| Art and Press, ZKM/ Museum of Contemporary Art, Karlsruhe, Martin-Gropius-Bau, Berlin, Deutschland | |
| 12 Rooms: Ruhr Triennale 2012, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Deutschland | |
| British Design 1948 – 2012: Innovation in the Modern Age, Victoria Albert Museum, London, UK | |
| Made in Britain: Modern Art from the British Council Collection, Benaki Museum, Athen, Griechenland | |
| 2011 | O’Clock: time design, design time, Triennale di Milano, Mailand, Italien |
| In the Name of the Artists – American Contemporary Art from the Astrup Fearnley Collection, Bienal pavilion, Sao Paulo, Brasilien | |
| Selected works from the Francois Pinault Collection: Agony and Ecstasy, ongeun Artspace, Seoul, Korea | |
| Yokohama Triennale, Yokohama Museum of Art, Japan | |
| Fondazione Prada _ Ca'Corner della Regina, Prada Foundation, Venedig, Italien | |
| The Luminous Interval, Guggenheim, Bilbao, Spanien | |
| 2010 | Plus Ultra, Macro, Rom, Italien |
| Have You Ever Really Looked at the Sun?, Haunch of Vension, Berlin, Deutschland | |
| I LOVE YOU, ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum, Arhus, Dänemark | |
| C’est la vie: Vanités de Caravage à Damien Hirst, Musée Maillol, Paris, Frankreich | |
| 2009 | BAROCK – Art, Science, Faith and Technology in the Contemporary Age, MADRE, Neapel, Italien |
| Medicine and Art: Imagining a Future for Life and Love, Mori Art Museum, Tokyo, Japan | |
| Pop Life, Tate Modern, London, UK, 2010 Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Deutschland | |
| 15 Years of Collecting - Against the Grain, Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg, Deutschland | |
| Spridd isolerad konst (Scattered and Isolated Art), Kalmar Art Museum, Kalmar, Schweden | |
| 2008 | Drei. Das Triptychon In Der Moderne, Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, Deutschland |
| Art, Price and Value – Contemporary art and the market, Palazzo Strozzi, Florenz, Italien | |
| Statuephilia, British Museum, London, UK | |
| END GAME – British Contemporary Art from the Chaney Family Collection, Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, USA | |
| Blood on Paper: The Art of the Book, Victoria and Albert Museum, London, UK | |
| Color Chart: Reinventing Color, 1950 to Today, MOMA, New York, USA | |
| The Inaugural Installation, Broad Contemporary Art Museum at LACMA, Los Angeles, USA | |
| 2007 | Art Machines – Machine Art, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt/M, Deutschland |
| Reflection, PinchukArtCentre, Kiew, Ukraine Turner Prize: A Retrospective, Tate Britain, London, UK | |
| Contemporary and Cutting Edge: Pleasures of Collecting, Part III, Bruce Museum, Greenwich, USA | |
| David Bailey & Damien Hirst: The Stations of the Cross, Essl Museum of Contemporary Art, Wien, Österreich | |
| RE-OBJECT, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Bregenz, Österreich | |
| Draw, Middlesborough Institute of Modern Art, Middlesborough, UK | |
| 2006 | Aftershock: Contemporary British Art, 1990-2006, Guangdong Museum of Art, Peking, China |
| The François Pinault Collection, a Post-Pop Selection, Palazzo Grassi, Venedig, Italien | |
| RADAR: Selections from the Collection of Vicki & Kent Logan, Denver Art Museum, USA | |
| Visitaciones, Museo de San Carlos, Mexico City, Mexiko | |
| Into Me / Out of Me, PS1 MOMA, New York, USA | |
| Tokyo Blossoms: Deutsche Bank Collection meets Zaha Hadid, Hara Museum, Tokyo, Japan | |
| 2005 | Rückkehr ins All/ Return to Space, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Deutschland |
| Douglas Gordon’s The Vanity of Allegory, Deutsche Guggenheim, Berlin, Deutschland | |
| Contemporary Voices: Works from the UBS Art Collection, MOMA, New York, USA | |
| Prague Biennale 2, Prag, Tschechien | |
| 2004 | From Moore to Hirst: Sixty Years of British Sculpture, National Museum Of Art, Bukarest, Rumänien |
| Intra-muros, Musée d’Art Moderne et d’Art Contemporain, Nizza, Frankreich | |
| Works and Days: Acquisitions for the Louisiana Collection 2000-2004, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebæk, Dänemark | |
| Monument To Now, Nea Ionia Exhibition Space, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art, Athen, Griechenland | |
| La Collection d’Art Contemporain D’Agnes B, Les Abattoirs, Toulouse, Frankreich | |
| Secrets of the ‘90s, Museum voor Moderne Kunst Arnhem, Arnhem, Niederlande | |
| In-A-Gadda-Da-Vida, Tate Britain, London, UK | |
| Turning Points: 20th Century British Sculpture, Tehran Museum of Contemporary Art, Teheran, Iran | |
| 2003 | Dreams and Conflicts: The Dictatorship of the Viewer, 50. Biennale Venedig, Italien |
| 1997 | Sensation: Young British Artists from the Saatchi Collection, Royal Academy of Arts, London, UK |
| 1988 | Freeze, Surrey Docks, London, UK |
You’re leaving already?
Secure your favourite artwork now!
- Over 260,000 satisfied customers worldwide
- 30 days return policy
Art Is Calling – LUMAS News, Events, & Specials
LUMAS ART NEWS
- Exclusive offers
- Inspiring new releases
- Personal invitations to Art Events
LUMAS protects your data. See our Privacy Policy for details.
No thanks, I would like to stay on this site.
Yes, I would like to switch.