Damien Hirst

Born 1965 Bristol, United Kingdom.
Lives and works in Devon, United Kingdom.

«Death - a fact of life that is systematically repressed despite its crushing relevance to us all - is one of the great themes of art, and one that Danien Hirst returns to repeatedly. It underlies not only his sculptures of animals in vitrines, such as Saint Sebastian (2007), but also his spectacular diamond-covered skull For the Love of God (2007) and his recent series of Biopsy Paintings (2007), which depict different types of cancer. These find their counterpart in a series featuring the birth of the artist's son by Caesarean section: Birth Paintings (2007). Exploring the span of life and death - the intersection of religion, science and art - often through Christian iconography, constitutes one side of Hirst's work. However, he devotes just as much passion and energy to playing the art market. Besides being an artist and producer, he is also curator and collector of art. In this last role he also exhibited works from his collection under the ironic title In the darkest hour there may be light (2007). The circularity of art embodied within a single person is also found in Hirst's diamond skull. With what initially appears to be consummate decadence, he covered the platinum cast of real human skull with 8601 flawless diamonds. It was bought for around 100 million dollars by a group of investors, among them - to the subsequent amazement of the public - Hirst himself. His public image thus remains divided: for some people he is the guy who deals in dead animals; other think he explores existential issues in extraordinary ways; other again consider him a manipulator of the art market, or even its emblem. Perhaps there are more facets to those diamonds than we first thought?» Holger Lund