Damien Stephen Hirst (born June 7, 1965, Bristol, UK) is an English artist, entrepreneur, art collector, and the most famous figure of the Young British Artists, dominating the art scene since the 1990s.

BIOGRAPHY OF THE ARTIST

Damien Hirst was born in Bristol and raised in Leeds. His father was a mechanic and car salesman, he left the family when Damien was 12 years old. His mother, Mary, was an amateur artist. She quickly lost control of her son, who was arrested twice for shoplifting.

First, Damien studied at an art school in Leeds, then, after two years working on construction sites in London, he tried to enter the Central College of Art and Design named after St. Martin and some college in Wales. Eventually, he was admitted to Goldsmiths College (1986-1989). In the 1980s, Goldsmith College was considered groundbreaking: unlike other schools, which attracted students who failed to enter a real college, Goldsmiths 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 morgue. Later, he will notice that many of the themes of his works originate there.

In July 1988, Hirst curated the acclaimed Freeze exhibition at the empty Port Authority Building in London's docks; the exhibition presented the works of 17 students of the school and his own creation - a composition of cardboard boxes painted with latex paints. The Freeze exhibition itself was also the fruit of Hirst's work. He selected the works himself, ordered the catalog and planned the opening ceremony.

Freeze was the starting point for several YBA artists; in addition, the famous collector and patron of the arts Charles Saatchi drew attention to Hirst. In 1989, Hirst graduated from Goldsmiths College.

In 1990, together with friend Karl Friedman, he organized another exhibition, Gamble, in a hangar in an empty Bermondsey factory building. This exhibition was visited by Saatchi: Friedman recalls how he stood with his mouth open in front of Hirst's installation entitled A Thousand Years - a visual demonstration of life and death. Saatchi acquired this creation and offered Hirst money to create future works.

Thus, with the money of Saatchi, in 1991, the "Physical impossibility of death in the mind of a living" 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 priced 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 $ 12 million (£ 6.5 million).

Hirst's first international recognition came to the artist in 1993 at the Venice Biennale. His work Separated Mother and Child featured parts of a cow and a calf placed in separate formaldehyde aquariums. 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 made a lot of noise, is a life-size image of a human skull; the skull itself is copied from the skull of a European aged about 35 years old, who died somewhere between 1720 and 1910; the teeth are inserted into the skull. The creation is encrusted with 8601 industrial diamonds with a total weight of 1100 carats; they cover it like a pavement. In the center of the skull forehead is a large, 52.4-carat, standard brilliant-cut, pale pink diamond.

The sculpture is called For the Love of God and is the most expensive sculpture of a living author at £ 50 million.

CREATION

Death is a central theme in his work.

The artist's most famous series is Natural History: dead animals (including shark, sheep and cow) in formaldehyde. Significant work - "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living": a tiger shark in a formaldehyde aquarium. This work has become a symbol of the graphic work of British art of the 1990s and a symbol of Britart throughout the world.

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:

"Spots" - Spot paintings (1988 - until now) - a geometric abstraction of colored circles, usually of the same size, not repeating in color and arranged in a grid. In some jobs, these rules are not followed. As the names for most of the works in this series, the scientific names of various toxic, narcotic or stimulating substances are taken: "Aprotinin", "Butyrophenone", "Ceftriaxone", "Diamorphine", "Ergocalciferol", "Minoxidil", "Oxalacetic Acid", "Vitamin C "," Zomepirac "and the like.

"Rotations" - Spin paintings (1992 - until today) - painting in the genre of abstract expressionism. During the production of this series, the artist or his assistants pour or drip paint onto a rotating canvas.

"Butterflies" - Butterfly Color Paintings (1994-2008) - abstract assemblage. Paintings are created by gluing dead butterflies onto a freshly painted canvas (no glue is used, butterflies stick to the uncured paint themselves). At the same time, the canvas is uniformly painted over with one color, and the butterflies used have a complex, bright color.

"Kaleidoscopes" - Kaleidoscope Paintings (2001-2008) - here, using butterflies stuck close to each other, the artist creates symmetrical patterns, similar to the patterns of a kaleidoscope.

It's Great to Be Alive, 2002

Despite the fact that museums sometimes decorate their children's corners with paintings with Damien Hirst's butterflies, butterflies in the artist's work quite definitely play the role of symbols of death.

Butterflies are one of the central objects for expressing Hirst's work, he uses them in all possible forms: images in paintings, photographs, installations. So he used for one of his installations In and Out of Love, held at the Tate Modern from April to September 2012 in London, 9,000 living butterflies, which gradually died during the event. After this incident, representatives of the animal welfare charity RSPCA criticized the artist.

In September 2008, Hirst sold the complete Beautiful Inside My Head Forever at Sotheby's for £ 111 million ($ 198 million), breaking the record for a single-artist auction.

According to the Sunday Times, Hirst is the richest living artist in the world, with an estimated fortune of £ 215 million in 2010. Early in his career, Damien worked closely with renowned collector Charles Saatchi, but growing disagreements ended in 2003.

In 2011, Hirst designed the cover art for the Red Hot Chili Peppers' album I’m with you.

In 2007, the work For the Love of God (a platinum skull inlaid with diamonds) was sold through the White Cube gallery to a group of investors for a record $ 100 million for living artists. True, there is information that among the so-called investors ”more than 70% of the assets belong to Hirst himself and his partners. So this work was sold no more than a third.

BIBLIOGRAPHY

• Tomkins K. "The Lives of Artists". - M .: V-A-C press, 2013

When writing this article, materials from the following sites were used:ru.wikipedia.org ,

If you find any inaccuracies or wish to supplement this article, send us information by email [email protected]site, we and our readers will be very grateful to you.

Let us continue our acquaintance with contemporary fine art, in particular with such forms as collages, installations and sculpture, but already, so to speak, in faces. Damien Hirst is a painter, sculptor and very talented English entrepreneur in the arts.

The all-consuming theme of death is eternal, classic and always relevant. Of course, the question arises when the creators of this world will stop speculating in this image in their works, and the answer is literally immediately revealed - never. Mysterious, multifaceted and endless, like our universe, a theme, like a golden Klondike for an artist. What an abnormal person, even in a fit of the greatest madness, would refuse such a gift from above.

Damien also chose Her Majesty's death as the central figure of his work. And he stretched this thematic line through all his work, starting from the unclassifiable series of works with dead animals in formaldehyde "Natural History" - something that simultaneously borders on sculpture, installation and performance.

In another of his projects, the artist continues to manipulate previously living beings and creates massive collaged canvases of dead butterflies, which, by the way, did not die by their own death. He called the project quite symbolically "In and Out of Love" - \u200b\u200b"Fall in love and fall out of love."

Not so famous, but no less worthy, picturesque canvases, combining the tendencies of minimalism and pointillism, in the project - "Spot paintings". The magnificent triptychs, skillfully executed with acrylic, once again emphasize the multiplicity of the artist's talents. He skillfully owns both a brush and a trowel, but his main weapon is fantasy, which generates incredible images and grandiose strategies for conquering the modern art market.

From installations, the Briton turns to anatomical monumental sculptures. The artist generally gravitates towards grandiose projects, and therefore each of his next work encroaches on ever larger spaces and goes beyond museum art.

A 16.5 meter high statue of a decapitated demon fills the atrium of Palazzo Grassi

For the first time in history, both of the Venetian exhibition spaces of the collector François Pinault were given to one exhibition. And they were taken by none other than Damien Hirst, one of the most famous artists of our time. The details of the exposition were kept secret until the very opening: it was only known that new project the author has been cooking for the past 10 years.

Damien Hirst, Hydra and Kali (two versions) and Hydra and Kali under water (underwater photography by Christoph Gerigk). Photo: rudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

On Sunday, April 9th, the public finally had the opportunity to get to the Venetian exhibition of Briton Damien Hirst. He has been creating exhibits for her under cover of secrecy over the past decade.

"Kronos devouring his children"
Photo: Andrea Merola / ANSA / AP / Scanpix / LETA

“The 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 when both centers have given space to one artist.

The exhibition is presented as a multi-layered maze 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 aquarium, is a symbol of this union.

Treasures of the wreck of the Incredible: Damien Hirst exhibition at Palazzo Grassi and Center contemporary art Punta della Dogana, 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 “discovering” and “rescuing” a priceless cargo.

"Two Garudas"

According to legend, the ship sank off the coast of East Africa.

"Demon with a bowl"
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 of all civilizations known at that time and was sent to the museum island, where it was to be displayed. The ship sank, and all its valuables rested serenely in the depths of the sea until 2008. Now these treasures have appeared before us.

Damien Hirst, Five Naked Greek Women, Five Antique Torsos, Naked Greek Woman (three versions).

Each exhibit at the exhibition is made in three copies. In the first version, it looks like a treasure raised from the sea day ("Coral" in Hirst's language); in the second - as a saved relic, restored by modern restorers ("Treasure"); and in the third - as a reproduction of a pseudo-historical object ("Copy").

Damien Hirst, Skull of the Cyclops and Divers Examining the Skull of the Cyclops (Underwater Photography).
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

Damien Hirst, 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, unique marble busts and skulls of cyclops, prayer figurines, 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 that evoke memories of the 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, Sadness.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

To heighten the likelihood, many of the works are decorated with white worms and "corals" of incredible colors. The shipwreck theme is complemented by large-format photographs and very believable footage of divers working off the coast of the Zanzibar archipelago.

According to Artnet.com, special rescue ships were hired to lower the giant bronze statues to the bottom of the Indian Ocean and then raise them.

Damien Hirst, Hydra and Kali Discovered by Four Divers.
Photo: Christoph Gerigk © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

Damien Hirst, The Stone Calendar.
Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP / Getty Images

Damien Hirst, The Unknown Pharaoh (detail). The work was clearly modeled on the American singer, rapper, producer, musician, and fashion designer Pharrell Williams. Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

It is worth noting that the faces of the musician Pharrell Williams, the model Kate Moss, the singers Rihanna and Yolandi Visser flicker in all this carefully crafted entourage ...

Bust of Taduheppa, the younger wife of the Egyptian pharaoh Amenhotep III
Photo: Miguel Medina / AFP / Scanpix / LETA

Not to mention the Mickey Mouse statue in Punta della Dogana. Damien Hirst himself appears in the bronze work "Bust of the Collector Seth Amotan II", hinting that he is not only a creator, but also a collector of works of art.

Damien Hirst, Sphinx (Coral variant); below - Damien Hirst, Sphinx (Treasure variant).
Both photos: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

According to the New York Times, major dealers such as the Gagosian Gallery or White Cube have already bought part of the work at prices ranging from $ 500,000 to $ 5 million per copy. However, like most of the facts in the exhibition, this information is hidden under a veil of secrecy.

Damien Hirst, Proteus.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

Damien Hirst, The Jade Buddha.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

Damien Hirst's exhibition Treasures from the crash site of the Incredible will be one of the central events of the Venice Biennale and will run until December 3, 2017.

Damien Hirst, Remains of Apollo.
Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd.

His father was a mechanic and car salesman, he left his family when Damien was 12. His mother was a Catholic consulting bureau and an amateur artist. She quickly lost control of her son, who was arrested twice for shoplifting. Damien Hirst attended art college in Leeds, studied art at the university in London.

Hirst has had serious drug and alcohol problems for ten years, starting in the early nineties.

Death is a central theme in his work. The artist's most famous series are dead animals in formalin (shark, sheep, cow ...)

One of his first works was the installation "A Thousand Years" - a visual demonstration of life and death. In a glass showcase, fly larvae emerged from the eggs to crawl behind the glass partition to the food - a rotting cow's head. Flies hatched from the larvae, which then died on the exposed wires of the "electronic fly swatter". A visitor could watch A Thousand Years today, and then come back a few days later and see how the cow's head shrank during this time and a pile of dead flies grew.

At forty, Hirst "was worth" £ 100 million, that is, more than Picasso, Warhol and Dali at this age combined

In 1991, Hirst created "The physical impossibility of death in the mind of a living" (tiger shark in a formaldehyde aquarium)
"I like it when an object symbolizes a feeling. The shark is scary, it is bigger than you and is in an environment that is unfamiliar to you. When it is dead, it looks like it is alive, and when it is alive, it is like dead." Sold for $ 12 million

A canned sheep cut lengthwise. A creature "frozen in death". Expresses "the joy of life and the inevitability of death." Sold for £ 2.1million

"Mother and Child Separated". You can walk between them. In 1995, Hirst received the Turner Prize for her. In 1999, he turned down an invitation to represent Britain at the Venice Biennale.

Hirst had a big "medical" series. At a show in Mexico City, the president of a vitamin company paid $ 3 million for the Blood of Christ, an installation of paracetamol tablets in a medical cabinet. "Spring Lullaby" - a locker with 6136 pills spread out on razor blades went to Christie's auction for $ 19.1 million

LSD
Hirst's third major series - "dot pictures" - colored circles on a white background. The master indicated which paints to use, but did not touch the canvas himself. In 2003, its dot pattern was used as an instrument calibration on the British Beagle spacecraft launched to Mars.

The fourth series - paintings of rotation - are created on a rotating pottery wheel. Hirst stands on a stepladder and throws paint onto a rotating base - canvas or board. Sometimes he commands the assistant: "More red" or "Turpentine"
Pictures "are a visual representation of the energy of the random"

Collage of thousands of individual tropical butterfly wings created by technicians in a separate studio

An interesting story happened to a reporter who had an old portrait of Stalin, which he once bought for 200 pounds. In 2007, he approached Christie with a proposal to put it up for auction. The auction house refused, saying that it did not sell either Stalin or Hitler.
- What if the author was Hirst or Warhol?
- Well then we would love to take it
The reporter called Hirst and asked him to paint a red nose for Stalin. He did so and added his signature.
Christie sold the work for 140 thousand pounds