Works
-
For the Love of God, 2012
Biography
Damien Hirst, who rose to prominence in late 1980s London, is one of the most notorious artists of his generation. He has pushed the limits of fine art and good taste with sculptures that comprise dead animals submerged in formaldehyde. Beginning in the late 1980s, Hirst developed his iconic "Spot Paintings." Works composed of evenly spaced colour circles arranged in precise grids. Methyl Phenylsulfoxide, although seemingly aligned with high-contemporary aesthetic concerns, echoes the visual strategies of the Washington Color School. Active through the 1950s and 60s, the emphasis on pure colour, flatness, and optical experience is central to Hirst's Spot works. The woodcut process lends a material presence not found in Hirst's other works. Each colour carries traces of the carved wood grain surface. Hirst's system of titling the woodcut editions carry associated with industrial production and classification. Grounding their seemingly sweet colour harmonies in the conditions of contemporary consumer and scientific culture.