Damien Hirst by Tako Natsvlishvili

History of Art Daniele Perra

Level 4A

By Tamara Natsvlishvili

CONTENTS 5

Introduction Biography

7-10

Key elements & Iconic Works

11-16

“Spot Paintings” (1991)

17-20

“Pharmacy” (1992)

21-24

Critical Considerations

25-26

Bibliography

27-28

INTODUCTION Damien Hirst is a standout amongst Britain's most celebrated contemporary artists. A significant number of his most celebrated works rotate around the topic of death. Hirst is also one of Britainâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s most commercially successful artists. With a fortune of around ÂŁ215 million A significant number of his most celebrated works rotate around the topic of death. They incorporate a tiger shark suspended and preserved in formaldehyde inside a glass show case (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 1991), an actual existence estimated diversion of a drug store (Pharmacy, 1992), a platinum human skull canvassed in 8,601 jewels (For the Love of God, 2007), and a bull in formaldehyde, whose hooves and horns were cast in 18-carat gold (The Golden Calf, 2008). In the same way as other controversial art creators, some of Hirst's works have addressed religion and offended preservationists. In the same way as other controversial art creators, some of Hirst's works have addressed religion and offended preservationists. In a collaboration with English picture taker David Bailey, Hirst made a progression of twelve photos that portrayed Jesus Christ's final minutes. This book describes general information about the artist, including his iconic artworks, inspirations and career breakthrough.

BIOGRAPHY

EARLY LIFE Damien Steven Hirst was born in Bristol, South West England in 1965 and brought up in Leeds, Hirst grew up poor in a broken home. He never met his father. His mother, Mary Brennan, separated from his stepfather, a vehicle sales rep, whom she had married when Hirst was 2 years old. In the late 1970s and mid 1980s, Hirst took a keen fascination in the punk music and social scene that was grabbing hold inside British culture. He was a huge fan of the Sex Pistols despite the fact that his mom once dissolved one of their LP's into a fruit bowl - and would reference them various occasions in his later work. As a teenager, Damien appreciated to look at illustrated pathology books, captivated by the pictures of disease and injury. While Brennan (her mother) didnâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;t favor of Hirst's dress and music decisions, she encouraged his love for drawing and art. While studying art at the Goldsmith's College at the University of London, he set up together a notable exhibit entitled "freeze" in 1988. The show included artworks done by Fiona Rae, Sarah Lucas, and others, just as his own. One of Hirstâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s initial works, "With Dead Head," outlines his enthusiasm for death and shaking up the art foundation. Hirst works became noticeable increasingly and known for its uncommon materials and also for his challenging art ideas. Charles Saatchi, publicizing titan and art collector supported Hirst and was fascinated by his works. Saatchi help Hirst financial bases, and furthermore begun gathering Hirst's pieces, which likewise propelled the artist's reputation.

CAREER BREAKTHROUGH

In 1991, Hirst had his first solo exhibition at the Woodstock Street Gallery in London. He additionally took part in the Young British Artists show at the Saatchi Gallery the next year. There he showed "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," a 14-foot-long glass tank with a shark preserved in formaldehyde, which had been bought from Australian fisherman. Hirst kept on setting the art world on fire, with his work at the 1993 Venice Biennale, a famous universal art exhibition. There he indicated "Mother and Child Divided," an installation piece that included divided cow and her calf displayed in 4 vitrines, or glass cases, full of formaldehyde. With his controversial and at times grisly works, Hirst soon became a standout amongst the best known artists in Britain. He won the Turner Prize in 1995. Except to his glass tank works, Hirst has also made sculptures and paintings. The artwork was a part of series known as spot paintings, Hirst just painted a couple of them. Business of Art Hirst apart being creative and visionary artist, he proved to be a wise businessman. He is considered to be one of the wealthiest living art creators today.

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KEY ELEMENTS • From the beginning of his career, Hirst put together a secure technique for catching the eye of the public. Spoiling corpses horrified and attracted exhibition visitors, who considered it to be a sort of dare. The public and critics were surprised not about the uniqueness of the art but high prices paid for it. This kept Hirst at the focal point of the art world and enlarged the value of his work. • Mothers and Children (the Madonna and Child) and Bloody bodies (martyrs and the death of Christ) are notable topics in Western religious painting. Hirst, who was raised Catholic, refers to this as an imperative component of his tasteful reasonableness. • Doubtful for what it's worth, Hirst's methodology is established in historical and contemporary sources. In its emphasis on death, it includes notices of mortality images in European still life, utilizing the natural materials .Where Hirst varies from his historical and contemporary elements in his display of whole corpses as visual exhibitions. • Hirst is an incredible showman. He appreciated the audience not only art critics but the whole public by the thrill of up closely seeing a dead shark or cut dead cows in half and preserved in the blue liquid, formaldehyde. Making them familiar with the challenges of contemporary art in a connecting and engaging something quite familiar but in a new and quick way. • Damien was a visionary in visualizing the necessities of the contemporary art showcase. He is inspired by the death and a great deal of his work is about death. He reflects on what it resembles to be dead and he thinks about whether there is a God, and if there is, what sort of God it is. • In contrast to death, he additionally considers every one of the things that keep us alive. Like medications that prevents us dying from awful diseases. He thinks about whether perhaps individuals have confidence in science and medicine more than they have faith in art. Pharmacy 1992 is an installation of parcels and loads of medicines on racks. • Damien Hirst another essential creations are Spin paintings. The circles turn around a central point, similar to a plate on a stereo. Each work is somewhat similar to an optical illusion experiment.

ICONIC WORKS

‘A Thousand Years’ (1990)

‘With Dead Head’ (1991)

‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ (1991)

‘In and Out of Love (White Paintings and Live Butterflies)’ (1991).

‘Mother and Child’ (Divided)

'Beautiful, pop, spinning ice creamy, whirling, expanding painting’ (1995)

Kaleidoscope’ paintings ‘I Am Become Death, Shatterer of Worlds’ (2006)

‘Aubade, Crown of Glory’ (2006)

‘For the Love of God’ (2007)

‘The Anatomy of an Angel’ (2008)

‘The meek shall inherit the earth’ (2008)

‘Mickey’ (2012)

SPOT PAINTINGS

‘Abalone Acetone Powder’ (1991)

Artwork description

'The Complete Spot Paintings’

‘EDGE’ (1988)

‘ROW’ (1988)

PHARMACY

‘Pharmacy’ (1992) Artwork description Installation of 'Pharmacy' was first appeared at the Cohen Gallery, New York in 1992. Hirst explored the refinements among art and life in this installation work, and the power given to pharmaceuticals by humans absolute confidence in them. The work is related with the spot artistic creations, named after pharmaceuticals, yet the effect is strikingly unique. As indicated by the artist, this work was motivated by entering into a pharmacy and wondering about its capacity and ability “to provoke and idea of confidence”. The artificial pharmacy, as Hirst explains frustrates the normal experience of confidence, in same recognizable atmosphere makes a sort of free-skimming tension. In the gallery space the work was presented with wall-to-wall medicine cabinets, supplied with empty pill packages. At one side of the room, at receptionist's desk four pharmacist bottles were placed which represents the earth, fire, air and water – the thematic image of the pharmacy. At the focal point of the room hangs an Insect-O-Cutor, encompassed by stools on which stand bowls of nectar and honeycomb. In Hirst's opinion the viewer is a metaphor for the fly and they are involved in it. Artist thinks that viewers are one of those things swarming around inside the environment. According to Hirst its all about civilization and collapse of a civilization, something that falls apart while it builds up.

The first “Pharmacy” installation is an introduction to his later variations of Pharmaceutical works, Over the years, Hirst was progressing and developing the pharmacy series. In 2016, Damien created interiors for his restaurant “Pharmacy 2” inside the Caruso St Johndesigned Newport Street Gallery, in London. “Pharmacy 2” ’s clinic theme was inspired by the artist’s 1992 artwork “Pharmacy”

CRITICAL CONSIDERATIONS Synthesizing the kind of conceptualism-lite post pop appropriation and visual gaga, Hirst was also assimilating his influences. Damien Hirst is very well assimilated in the business of being an artist and art as business. His later works might be taken as a critic of the very market that supports him and the people that buy his artworks. Hirst has often made statements about the transience of life. Medicine, that is shown as a powerful belief system: the drugs, by which we are seduced and we believe they will cure all ills and preserve life, without rarely questioning the side effects. Damien wanted people to start believing in art the same way, they believe in Pharmacy, so he took pharmacy with its cool white shelves and aesthetics of classified bottles and made his art out of it. Showing minimalistic order banishing fears, but also showing the inevitable death by including honeycomb placed on the stool and the insect-O-cutor on the wall. Hirst created an installation which displays great theatricality, we as viewers become actors and backdrop becomes a stage. The “Spot Paintings”, where the dots are painted by Damien Hirst’s assistants, through both this conceptual commentary on prescription medication culture, but also by making an optical impact that is misleadingly innocent and after looking into, it further transforms into a disruptive aesthetic. However, If you look carefully at any one of these paintings, because of the lack of repeated colors there is no harmony. So, in every painting there is an unconscious sense of unease the colors extend so much joy, it’s hard to feel it. Pharmacist’s office and Spot paintings, and generally Hirst’s artworks were created wishing to excite horror and shock by showing somebody a corpse, in my opinion, it isn’t really a particularly interesting esthetic act. On the other hand, I think he doesn’t communicate properly, if you go deep into his works, it might have different meaning, but at first visual impact it makes us question ourselves and we might be misunderstood. In his work “Pharmacy” and ”Spot Paintings” the underlining importance may not be clear, and surely the artist's analysis on death isn't plainly obvious in these works. If the viewer were not acquainted with Hirst's whole assemblage of work, it might be simply engaged just with Hirst's utilization of form and color, without thinking about the works potential references any further. “Spot paintings” and “Pharmacy which are often critiqued and Hirst himself is considered as con artists but not in a conceptual way. In my opinion, that’s because he doesn’t alter the found objects in a dramatic meaningful way and often the spectator, isn’t able to understand the message of the artwork. Finally, in my own point of view, his works are sensational which are not just art pieces but they are lifetime messages to society, and also if one really knows his works and the body of and his ideas and the reason for the concepts, I am certain that they will totally be attracted with his artworks.

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