Damien Hirst(English) Damien Hirst, R. June 7, 1965) - modern English artist. One of the most prominent members of the Young British Artists group. 1995 Turner Prize winner. 2010 estimates - richest artist in the world.
Biography and creativity
Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol (England). Grew up in Leeds. His father left the family when Hearst was 12 years old, and his mother was unable to control her son. In his youth, he was arrested twice for shoplifting.
Studied at art school in Leeds and then (after a two-year pause) at Goldsmith College (1986-1989), which at that time was considered innovative and offered an experimental curriculum that attracted many talented students and teachers there. At this time, he was very fond of the work of Francis Bacon, which was reflected in his future works. Even before graduation, in July 1988 he curated the exhibition Freeze where, among others, his own installations were presented. It should be noted that this exhibition itself was in many ways a project of the 23-year-old Hirst and laid the foundation for both his own career, and the careers of a number of other artists, many of whom were also Goldsmith alumni. Here, for the first time, the millionaire and art collector Charles Saatchi drew attention to Hirst, on whom the artist’s work produced great impression. A year later, at the second exhibition of Hirst, he bought his work "A Thousand Years" and offered financial assistance in creating future work.
installation "A thousand years" was a kind of system illustrating such global processes as life and death. The theme of death - Hirst's key theme - already occupies a dominant position in this work. The installation consisted of a container of fly eggs, a rotting cow's head, and an electric fly swatter. Larvae hatched from eggs, crawled to food ( cow head), turned into flies and died on contact with a fly swatter. Over time, the installation changed - the head became smaller, and there were more and more corpses of flies, and the viewer, coming to the exhibition again, saw the entire process described above in dynamics, observing not only way of life flies, but also behind the result of this process.
With money from Saatchi, Hirst created a work called "The physical impossibility of death in the mind of the living". This work was a dead four-meter shark in formaldehyde. She laid the foundation for a number of similar installations, one of which - "Separated mother and child"(literally from English. “Mother and child. Divided») - was presented at the Venice Biennale and brought Hirst international fame. Here the viewer sees creatures “frozen in death”, something frightening and repulsive, something that is no longer alive, but still retains its easily recognizable appearance. So, for example, in front of the conditional viewer of the installation “Physical Impossibility…” there is no shark, it has already died and only its shell remains. But the “dead” is perceived by the viewer only as “inanimate”. He sees the "former living", interpreting the new object through the prism of what it once was, and not guided by what it is now.
The theme of death, which sometimes turns into the theme of the transience of life, runs like a red thread through all the work of Damien Hirst. In 2007 he creates a work called "For the love of the Lord!", which is sometimes called « diamond skull Damien Hirst" and who became known as most expensive piece of art living author. This work itself is a copy of the skull of a European 35 years old, made of platinum and fully encrusted with diamonds. In the center of the forehead of the skull is a pink diamond. The creation of this work cost Hirst 14 million pounds.
Despite conceptual foundations Hirst's works, it is difficult to deny the deliberately scandalous nature of many works this artist. Following dead animals in formaldehyde and the most expensive work of art in the world, we should mention the installation "In and Out of Love" or in this case "Inside and Outside Love"). Dolls were attached to canvases on the walls, from which butterflies appeared. Entering the room, the spectators found themselves among these insects that flew around them, landing both on the spectators themselves and on fruit containers placed in the same room. The exhibition was held at the Tate Modern gallery and lasted 5 months. During this time, she attracted more than 460,000 visitors and became the most visited solo exhibition in the history of the gallery. Later, information appeared that 9,000 butterflies died during the exhibition and this caused protests from a number of environmental organizations.
Damien Hirst's painting can be classified as geometric abstract art (example: series Spot paintings) and (example: series Spin paintings)). The "Spots" series consists of paintings depicting circles of the same size, but different in color (the color never repeats), arranged in the form of a lattice. The Rotations series consists of paintings that were created by pouring paint onto a rotating canvas. Hirst is also the author of a number of paintings that return us to the theme of butterflies: the Butterfly Color Paintings series consists of works where dried paint fasten dead butterflies, which become the basis of the composition.
Dominating the art scene since the 1990s.
In the 1980s, Goldsmith College was considered innovative: unlike other schools that recruited students who failed to get into a real college, Goldsmith School attracted many talented students and resourceful teachers. Goldsmith introduced an innovative program that did not require students to draw or paint. Over the past 30 years, this model of education has become widespread throughout the world.
As a student at the school, Hirst regularly visited the mortuary. Later, he will notice that many themes of his works originate there.
Career
In July 1988, Hirst curated the now-famous Freeze exhibition in the empty Port of London Authority building on the London Docks; the exhibition presented the works of 17 students of the school and his own creation - a composition from cardboard boxes painted with paint latex paints. The exhibition itself freeze was also the fruit of Hirst's work. He himself selected the works, ordered the catalog and planned the opening ceremony.
freeze became the starting point for several YBA artists; in addition, the well-known collector and patron of the arts, Charles Saatchi, drew attention to Hirst.
In 1989, Hirst graduated from Goldsmiths College. In 1990, together with his friend Karl Friedman, he organized another exhibition, Gamble, in Angara, in the empty building of the Bermondsey factory. This exhibition was visited by Saatchi: Friedman recalls how he stood with open mouth in front of Hirst's installation called A Thousand Years - a visual demonstration of life and death. Saatchi purchased this creation and offered Hirst money to create future works.
Thus, with Saatchi's money, in 1991, the Physical Impossibility of death in the mind of a living person was created, which is an aquarium with a tiger shark, the length of which reached 4.3 meters. The work cost Saatchi £50,000. The shark was caught by an authorized fisherman in Australia and was valued at £6,000. As a result, Hirst was nominated for the Turner Prize, which was awarded to Greenville Davey. The shark itself was sold in December 2004 to collector Steve Cohen for $12m (£6.5m).
First international recognition Hirst came to the artist in 1993 at the Venice Biennale. His work "Separated mother and child" was the parts of a cow and a calf placed in separate aquariums with formaldehyde. In 1997, the artist's autobiography "I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now" was published.
Hirst's latest project, which has made a lot of noise, is a life-size depiction of a human skull; the skull itself is copied from that of a European about 35 years of age who died sometime between 1720 and 1910; real teeth in the skull. The creation is encrusted with 8601 industrial diamonds with a total weight of 1100 carats; they cover it completely, like a pavement. In the center of the forehead of the skull is a large 52.4 carat standard brilliant cut pale pink diamond. The sculpture is called For the Love of the Lord and is the most expensive sculpture by a living artist - £50 million.
In 2011, Hirst designed the album cover musical group Red Hot Chili Peppers "I'm with you".
Works
Unlike sculptures and installations, which practically do not deviate from the theme of death, Damien Hirst's painting at first glance looks cheerful, elegant and life-affirming. The main painting series of the artist are:
Painting
| Colored circles became Hirst's trademark, an antidote to those of his things whose theme is death and decay; since no two spots are exactly the same in color, these paintings are free from harmony, from color balance and from all other aesthetic contrivances, they are all, as advertising posters, radiate a joyful, eye-catching radiance |
It was he who came up with the idea of encrusting human skulls with diamonds and making art objects from the corpses of cows. Damien Hirst(Damien Hirst) is a British artist and collector who first came to prominence in the late 1980s. Member of the Young British Artists group, considered the most dear artist in the world and the richest in the UK according to The Sunday Times (2010). His works are included in the collections of many museums and galleries: Tate, Museum contemporary art in New York, the Hirshhorn Museum and the Sculpture Garden in Washington, Central Museum Ulrecht and others. Damien Hirst was born on June 7, 1965 in Bristol, UK. Much of his childhood was spent in Leeds. After the divorce of his parents, when Damien was 12 years old, he began to lead a more free way of life and was arrested twice for petty theft. However, Hirst was fond of drawing since childhood and graduated from art college in Leeds, and later continued his studies at Goldsmiths College, London University (1986-1989). Some of his drawings were made in the mortuary, the theme of death subsequently became the main one in the artist's work. 
Damien Hirst is in a civil marriage with designer Maya Norman, the couple has three sons. Most Hirst spends time with his family at his home in Devon in the north of England. 
Dream, 2008 Anthem, 2000 In 1988, Damien Hirst organized an exhibition of Goldsmith students (Richard and Simon Patterson, Sarah Lucas, Fiona Ray, Angus Fairhurst and others, later they began to be called "Young British Artists") Freeze, which attracted public attention. Here artists and especially Hirst noticed the famous collector Charles Saatchi. 
Lost love, 2000 In 1990, Damien Hirst took part in the exhibitions Modern Medicine and Gambler. He presented to them his work "A Thousand Years": a glass container with a cow's head covered with cadaverous flies, this work was bought by Saatchi. Since that time, Damien and the collector began to work closely together until 2003. “I am going to die and I want to live forever. I cannot escape death, and I cannot get rid of the desire to live. I want to at least catch a glimpse of what it is like to die.” In 1991, the first personal exhibition Hirst in London In and Out of Love, and in 1992 - the exhibition of "Young British Artists" in the Saatchi Gallery, which presented the work of Hirst "The physical impossibility of death in the mind of the living": a tiger shark in formaldehyde. This work at the same time brought the artist fame even among those who are far from art, and a nomination for the Turner Prize. 
In 1993, Hirst took part in the Venice Biennale with the work Separated Mother and Child, and a year later he curated the exhibition Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, where he presented his composition Lost Sheep (a dead sheep in formaldehyde), which was renamed "Black Sheep" when the artist poured ink into the aquarium. Damien Hirst received the Turner Prize in 1995. At the same time, the artist presented the installation Two Fucking and Two Watching, which is a decomposing cow and a bull. In subsequent years, Hirst exhibitions were held in London, Seoul, Salzburg. In 1997, Hirst's autobiographical book, I Want to Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now, was published. In 2000, the work "Hymn", shown on Exhibition Art Noise, acquired by Saatchi, the sculpture was an anatomical model human body over six meters high. In the same year, the exhibition "Damien Hirst: Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings" was held, which was visited by about 100 thousand people, all of Hirst's sculptures were sold. Self-portrait: "Kill yourself, Damien" In 2004, one of the most famous works Hirst - "The physical impossibility of death in the mind of the living" - Saatchi sold to another collector, Steve Cohen. Its cost was 12 million dollars. 
"It's very easy to say, 'Well, even I could do that.' The thing is, I did it.
In 2007, Damien Hirst presented the work “For the love of God - a human skull, covered with platinum and studded with diamonds, only teeth are natural. It was bought by a group of shareholders (including Hirst himself) for 50 million pounds (or $ 100 million), while the artist himself spent 14 million pounds on its creation. Thus, “For the Love of God” is the most expensive work of art by a living artist. "Investment banker in formaldehyde" Hirst also paints, some of his most famous works are the triptychs "Meaningless", made in the manner of Francis Bacon (some of them were sold before the opening of the exhibition in 2009), the Spots series (multi-colored dots on white background, reminiscent of pop art), Spins (concentric circles), Butterflies (canvases using butterfly wings). 
Damien Hirst also acts as a designer: in 2009, he used his painting "Beautiful, Father Time, Hypnotic, Exploding Vortex, The Hours Painting" to design the cover of the album "See the Light" British group The Hours, and in 2011 came up with a cover for the record red hot Chili Peppers "I'm with You". He has also collaborated with Levi's, ICA and Supreme and has designed covers for magazines (including Pop, Tar and Garage). Hirst collector owns a collection of paintings by Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Francis Bacon, Tracey Emin. Cover of Tar Magazine, spring-summer 2009 (designed by Damien Hirst, modeled by Kate Moss) 
Cover of Garage Magazine FW 2011/2012 (photo by Hedi Slimane, art by Damien Hirst, model Lily Donaldson) Cover of Pop Magazine FW 2009/2010 (photo by Jamie Morgan, art by Damien Hirst, model Tavi Gevinson) 
Album cover Red Hot Chili Peppers "I'm with You" (2011) Damien clothing Damien Hirst X Supreme skateboard series, 2011 Works* In and Out of Love (1991), installation. * The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), tiger shark in formalin tank. It was one of the entries nominated for the Turner Prize. * Pharmacy] (1992), life-size reproduction of a pharmacy. * Away from the Flock (1994), dead sheep in formaldehyde. 
* Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything (1996) installation. 
* Mother and Child Divided * "For the Love of God", (2007) D. Hirst Records * In 2007, "For the Love of God" (a platinum skull encrusted with diamonds) was sold through the "White Cube" gallery to a group of investors for a record $100 million for living artists.
A statue of a headless demon 16.5 meters high fills the atrium of Palazzo Grassi
For the first time in history, both Venetian exhibition spaces of the collector François Pinault are given over to one exposition. And they were occupied by none other than Damien Hirst, one of the most famous artists modernity. The details of the exposition were kept secret until the very opening: it was only known that new project The author has been preparing for the past 10 years.
Damien Hirst, "Hydra and Kali" (two versions) and "Hydra and Kali underwater (underwater photography by Christoph Gehrigk)". Photo: rudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
On Sunday, April 9, the public finally got the opportunity to get to the Venice exhibition of Briton Damien Hirst. He created exhibits for her under the cloak of secrecy during last decade.
"Kronos Devouring His Children"
Photo: Andrea Merola / ANSA / AP / Scanpix / LETA
“Treasures from the crash site of the Incredible are located in both palaces of the Pino Foundation - in Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana. This is the first time in history that both centers have given space to the same artist.
The exhibition is presented as a multi-layered labyrinth of treasures from a ship that sank 2,000 years ago and was only discovered in 2008 (coincidentally, this is the year of the previous peak of Hirst's career).
Damien Hirst, "Hydra and Kali" (detail). Photo: Andrea Merola / AP
Damien Hirst
51-year-old Damien Hirst is considered the richest living artist in the world. He is also the most prominent representative of the Young British Artists (Britart) group, which has dominated the art of Foggy Albion for the last quarter of a century.
Hirst's The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living (1991), depicting a tiger shark in a formaldehyde tank, is emblematic of this association.
Treasures of the Wreck of the Incredible: Damien Hirst Exhibition at Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana Contemporary Art Center, Venice. Photo: Damien Hirst and Science Ltd
“Treasures from the crash site of the Incredible is a multi-layered labyrinth of sculptures, historical objects, photographs and video footage of the “discovery” and “rescue” of a priceless cargo.
"Two Garudas"
According to legend, the ship sank off the coast of East Africa.
"Demon with a cup"
Photo: Andrea Merola / EPA / Scanpix / LETA
On board was an extensive art collection belonging to a freed slave named Sif Amotan II.
The collection included artifacts from every civilization known at that time and was sent to the museum island, where it was supposed to be on display. The ship sank, and all her valuables rested serenely in sea depths until 2008. Now these treasures are before us.
Damien Hirst, "Five naked Greek women", "Five antique torsos", "Naked Greek woman" (three versions).
Each exhibit at the exhibition is made in triplicate. In the first version, it looks like a treasure raised from the seabed ("Coral" in Hirst's language); in the second - as a salvaged relic, restored by modern restorers ("Treasure"); and in the third, as a reproduction of a pseudo-historical object ("Copy").
Damien Hirst, "Cyclops' skull" and "Divers studying Cyclops' skull (underwater photography)".
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
Damient Hirst, The Skull of the Cyclops.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd
Damien Hirst, View of Katya Ishtar Yo-landi.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
There are huge bronze warrior goddesses, marble busts and skulls of the Cyclopes, prayer figures, tombs, tables, urns, display cases with shields, precious jewelry and coins.
Sculpture at the exhibition "Treasures of the sunken ship "Incredible"
Photo: Awakening/Getty Images
Hirst used a variety of expensive materials - malachite, gold, lapis and jade - to create a museum collection of artifacts evoking memories of ancient world.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
Damien Hirst, The Severed Head of Medusa.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
Damien Hirst, Sorrow.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
To enhance the plausibility, many of the works are decorated with white worms and "corals" of incredible colors. The theme of the shipwreck is complemented by large-format photographs and very believable video footage of divers working off the coast of the Zanzibar archipelago.
According to Artnet.com, special rescue ships have been hired to lower the giant bronze statues to the bottom of the Indian Ocean and then pick them up.
Damien Hirst, Hydra and Kali Discovered by Four Divers.
Photo: Christoph Gerigk © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
Damien Hirst, Stone Calendar.
Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP / Getty Images
Damien Hirst, The Unknown Pharaoh (detail). The model for this work was clearly american singer, rapper, producer, musician and fashion designer Pharrell Williams. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
It is worth noting that in all this carefully designed entourage, the faces of musician Pharrell Williams, model Kate Moss, singers Rihanna and Yolandi Fisser flicker...
Bust of Taduheppa, younger wife Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III
Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP / Scanpix / LETA
Not to mention the Mickey Mouse statue at Punta della Dogana. Damien Hirst himself appears in the bronze work "Bust of the Collector Sif Amotan II", hinting that he is not only a creator, but also a collector of works of art.
Damien Hirst, "Sphinx" (option "Coral"); below - Damien Hirst, "Sphinx" (variant "Treasure").
Both photos: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
According to The New York Times, major dealers such as the Gagosian Gallery or the White Cube have already bought some of the works at prices ranging from $500,000 to $5 million per copy. However, like most of the facts at the exhibition, this information is hidden under the cover of secrecy.
Damien Hirst, Proteus.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
Damien Hirst, Jade Buddha.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
Damien Hirst's exhibition Treasures from the Wreck of the Improbable will be one of the highlights of the Venice Biennale and run until December 3, 2017.
Damien Hirst, Remains of Apollo.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.
