Damien Hirst

Works
Biography
"People are afraid of change, so you create a kind of belief for them through repetition. It's like breathing. I've always been drawn to series and pairs. A unique thing is quite a frightening object."- Damien Hirst

Based in London, Damien Hirst first came to public attention in 1988 when he conceived and curated the exhibition "Freeze". Held in a disused warehouse, the exhibition showcased his work and that of his friends and fellow students at Goldsmiths College. In nearly quarter of a century since that pivotal show (which would come to define the Young British Artists movement), Hirst has become one of the most influential artists of his generation.

 

Some of his best known works are said to be his paintings and glass tank installations. His ground-breaking works include; Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (a tiger shark in formaldehyde), and secondly,  For the Love of God (a human skull studded with 8,601 diamonds). In addition to his installations and sculptures, Hirst's 'spot' and 'butterfly' paintings have become a universally recognized stamp.

So far Hirst has developed and curated 432 exhibitions and events during his career. Most recently he developed the series  'Cherry Blossoms', where Hirst took the traditional concept of the landscape painting, and reinterpreted it with colourful irony. In 2022, he conjured his most thrilling project so far: 'The Currency'. Hirst took thousands of his 'spot' paintings and burned them in a fire at his London gallery. This was part of his year long NFT project "exploring the boundaries of art and currency -- when art changes and becomes a currency, and when currency becomes art".

Exhibitions