About
Damien Hirst first rose to public recognition in 1988 during his time studying at Goldsmiths College in London, when he conceived and curated “Freeze,” a group exhibition of his work and that of his contemporaries at Goldsmiths. In the near quarter century since that pivotal show, Hirst has become one of the most prominent artists of his generation. Through work that includes the iconic shark suspended in formeldahyde, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), to the platinum cast of a human skull set with 8,601 flawless diamonds, For the Love of God (2007), Hirst takes a direct and challenging approach to ideas about existence. Of the latter, art historian Rudi Fuchs has said, “The skull is out of this world, celestial almost. At the same time, it represents death as something infinitely more relentless. Compared to the tearful sadness of a vanitas scene, the diamond skull is glory itself.” His work calls into question our awareness and convictions about the boundaries that separate desire and fear, life and death, reason and faith, love and hate. Hirst uses the tools and iconography of science and religion, creating sculptures and paintings whose beauty and intensity offer the viewer insight into art that transcends our familiar understanding of those domains. “There [are] four important things in life: religion, love, art and science,” the artist has said. “At their best, they’re all just tools to help you find a path through the darkness. None of them really work that well, but they help. Of them all, science seems to be the one right now. Like religion, it provides the glimmer of hope that maybe it will be all right in the end…”
Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol, England. Hirst was included in the 1992 Young British Artists exhibition at Saatchi Gallery in London, and in 1995, he received the Turner prize. Solo exhibitions include “The Agony and the Ecstasy,” Museo Archeologico Nazionale, Naples (2004); “A Selection of Works by Damien Hirst from Various Collections,” Museum of Fine Arts, Boston (2005); Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2005); “For the Love of God,” Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam (2008); “Requiem,” PinchukArtCentre, Kiev (2009); “Life, Death and Love,” Galerie Rudolfinum, Prague (2009); “No Love Lost,” Wallace Collection, London (2009–10); “Cornucopia,” Oceanographic Museum of Monaco, Monte Carlo (2010); “For the Love of God,” Museo di Palazzo Vecchio, Florence (2010); “Damien Hirst: A Retrospective,” Tate Modern, London (2012); “Relics,” Qatar Museum Authority, Gallery Al Riwaq, Doha (2013–14); Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2015); “The Last Supper,” National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2016); and “Treasures From the Wreck of the Unbelievable,” Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana, Venice (2017).
Hirst lives and works in London and Devon, England.
Photo: Oli Scarff/Getty Images
#DamienHirst
Website
Exhibitions
Extended through August 10, 2018
Damien Hirst
Colour Space Paintings
May 4–August 10, 2018
West 24th Street, New York
Damien Hirst
The Veil Paintings
March 1–April 14, 2018
Beverly Hills
Extended through March 3, 2018
Damien Hirst
Visual Candy and Natural History
November 23, 2017–March 3, 2018
Hong Kong
Damien Hirst
The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011
January 12–February 10, 2012
Beverly Hills
Damien Hirst
The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011
January 12–February 18, 2012
980 Madison Avenue, New York
Damien Hirst
The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011
January 12–February 18, 2012
West 24th Street, New York
Damien Hirst
The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011
January 12–February 18, 2012
Britannia Street, London
Damien Hirst
The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011
January 12–February 18, 2012
Davies Street, London
Fairs, Events & Announcements
Art Fair
Seattle Art Fair
August 2–5, 2018, booth A09
CenturyLink Field Event Center, Seattle
www.seattleartfair.com
Gagosian is pleased to present Out of This World: Artists Explore Space, a booth curated by Larry Gagosian for the 2018 Seattle Art Fair. The presentation gathers works that reveal artistic and scientific explorations of the cosmos. Featured artists include Richard Avedon, Andisheh Avini, Chris Burden, Alexander Calder, Vija Celmins, Ellen Gallagher, Andreas Gursky, Damien Hirst, Neil Jenney, Mike Kelley, Yves Klein, Vera Lutter, Brice Marden, Marc Newson, Nam June Paik, Thomas Ruff, Ed Ruscha, Tom Sachs, Taryn Simon, Yves Tanguy, and Andy Warhol, among others.
To receive a PDF with detailed information on the works, please contact the gallery at inquire@gagosian.com. To attend the fair, purchase tickets at seattleartfair.com.
Ed Ruscha, Even Though He’s Light Years Away, His Heart Belongs to Me, 1963 © Ed Ruscha
Art Fair
Artmonte-Carlo
April 28–29, 2018, booth B8
Grimaldi Forum, Monaco
www.artmontecarlo.ch
Gagosian is pleased to participate in Artmonte-Carlo 2018, presenting a selection of works by artists including Richard Artschwager, Davide Balula, Glenn Brown, Michael Craig-Martin, Edmund de Waal, Damien Hirst, Peter Lindbergh, Takashi Murakami & Virgil Abloh, Sterling Ruby, and Taryn Simon. To receive a PDF with detailed information on the works, please contact the gallery at inquire@gagosian.com. To preview our booth go to www.artsy.net. To purchase tickets to attend the fair go to www.artmontecarlo.ch.
Sterling Ruby, Heart (6634), 2018 © Sterling Ruby Studio. Photo: Robert Wedemeyer
Public Installation
Damien Hirst
Hymn
March 26–July 15, 2018
Norwich University of the Arts, UK
www.nua.ac.uk
Damien Hirst’s monumental sculpture Hymn (1999–2005) is on display at Norwich University of the Arts through mid-July. The twenty-foot-high painted bronze sculpture is based on an anatomical toy Hirst bought for his son. The installation coincides with a major exhibition of the artist at nearby Houghton Hall in Norfolk.
Damien Hirst, Hymn, 1999–2005 © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2018
Museum Exhibitions
On View
Present Tense
Selections from the Lenhardt Collection
Through December 31, 2018
Phoenix Art Museum
www.phxart.org
Present Tense includes more than twenty paintings, prints, photographs, and sculptures all drawn from the private collection of Dawn and David Lenhardt. The show places recent contemporary acquisitions by the Lenhardts in conversation with works by modern artists. Work by Damien Hirst, Roy Lichtenstein, Sterling Ruby, and Andy Warhol is included.
Sterling Ruby, WIDW. BALLISTIC., 2017 © Sterling Ruby
On View
Atlas
Opened April 20, 2018
Fondazione Prada, Milan
www.fondazioneprada.org
The group of exhibited artworks, realized between 1960 and 2016, represents a possible mapping of the ideas and visions that have guided the creation of the collection and the collaborations with the artists that have contributed to the activities of the foundation throughout the years. Work by Walter De Maria, Michael Heizer, Damien Hirst, Carsten Höller, and Jeff Koons is included.
Carsten Höller, Upside-Down Mushroom Room, 2000 © Carsten Höller. Photo by Attilio Maranzano, courtesy Fondazione Prada
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Damien Hirst at Houghton Hall
Outdoor Sculptures
July 18–September 30, 2018
Houghton Hall, England
www.houghtonhall.com
An installation of sculptures by Damien Hirst are installed outdoors in the Houghton Hall gardens, featuring some of the artist’s most famous and visually arresting works such as Virgin Mother (2005–06) and Charity (2002–03).
Installation view, Damien Hirst at Houghton Hall: Outdoor Sculptures, Houghton Hall, England, July 18–September 30, 2018 © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2018
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Counterpoint
Selections from the Peter Marino Collection
July 28–September 23, 2018
Southampton Arts Center, New York
southamptonartscenter.org
In 1978 Peter Marino acquired an artwork from Andy Warhol. Since then, the Peter Marino Collection has grown to encompass hundreds of paintings and mixed-media pieces representing some of the most notable artists of today. Work by Georg Baselitz, Glenn Brown, Damien Hirst, Anselm Kiefer, Richard Prince, and Andy Warhol is included.
Georg Baselitz, Lehr nich ratte much wilm (Lelf bal wile), 2013 © Georg Baselitz 2018
Press
Why Damien Hirst is seeing dots in his new work on view in Beverly Hills by Deborah Vankin
Los Angeles Times
March 23, 2018
Online
PDF
Damien Hirst’s Post-Venice, Post-Truth World by Adam Popescu
New York Times
March 13, 2018
Online
PDF