Everything you need to know about Damien Hirst. Damien Hirst (UK)

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 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 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 the most bright representative group "Young British Artists" (Britart), dominating the art Foggy Albion 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 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 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 its valuables rested serenely in the depths of the sea 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, in order to lower giant bronze statues to the bottom indian ocean and then raise them, special rescue ships were hired.

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 Tadukheppa, the younger wife of the 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.

In 2007, Damien Hirst set a price record by creating one of the most expensive objects of modern art - a skull studded with diamonds (the total number of which is 8601). The cost of the skull, which has become an icon of modern art, is about $20 million. For comparison, the annual turnover of the purchase of precious stones in Ukraine reaches only $10 million. love of God” (“For the Love of God”), is about $ 100 million. Thus, the skull encrusted with diamonds has become one of the most expensive works of contemporary art in terms of cost.

Damien Hirst is the most expensive living artist. He was born on June 7, 1965 in the north of England in the fifth largest British town of Leeds. The father of the future artist worked as a simple mechanic. He left his family when Damien was 12 and further education the boy was taken care of by his mother, a Catholic believer named Mary. Hirst graduated from art school in Leeds, and then entered the department fine arts London University. In the early 90s, Hirst became one of the leaders of the movement of young artists of the Saatchi circle - "Young British Artists". YBA is one of the central phenomena of British art of the 90s. In 1991, Charles Saatchi invited Hirst to finance any work he conceived, and in 1992, one of the artist's first legendary works, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living, was exhibited at an exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. A shark swimming in an aquarium filled with formalin cost Saatchi £50,000 and has become one of the milestones of modern British art.

In the future, Hirst often used spirited animals in his work - flies, butterflies, a young bull, etc. In 1992, Damien Hirst created another hit with Thousand Years, an aquarium of fly larvae that feed on rotting meat, grow to become adult flies, and then die in an electric insect trap.

The youth of today's multi-millionaire artist spent very stormy. Throughout the 90s, Hirst had serious problems with drugs and alcohol, and a reputation as a bully was tightly entrenched in him. At that time, he was completely unbridled, for example, he could easily place a cigarette on the tip of his penis and try to "light" it in front of a shocked public. In the end, Hurst was even blacklisted for indecent behavior in his favorite drinking establishment - London's Groucho Club.

In the early 2000s, the artist gave up stimulants. The withdrawal period turned out to be difficult - in 2002 he had to leave his family for a while. civil wife, American Maya Norman, who could hardly bear the more complicated character of the “correct Hirst”. The former brawler still managed to become an exemplary family man: today he lives with Maya and their three sons - Conor (1995), Cassius (2000) and Cyrus (2007) - in his old estate in the north of Devonshire. Hurst devoted a piercing series of new paintings to the birth of his youngest son through a caesarean section.

His father was a mechanic and car salesman who left the family when Damien was 12. His mother was a Catholic consulting firm and amateur artist. She quickly lost control of her son, who was arrested twice for shoplifting. Damien Hirst attended Leeds College of Art and studied art at the University of London.
Hearst had serious problems with drugs and alcohol for ten years, starting in the early nineties.
Death is a central theme in his work. The artist's most famous series is dead animals in formalin (shark, sheep, cow...)
http://ru.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hirst,_Damien.Damien Hirst: "I'm afraid of museums" (interview)http://artdosug.ru/archives/2859
During Olympic Games In 2012, guests of the UK capital will be able to fully enjoy the work of Damien Hirst, the most famous (and most scandalous) contemporary artist. The Tate Gallery has announced the first major exhibition of Damien Hirst's work, and we bring you some of his most famous works. The exhibition, which gives an insight into his work over the past two decades, will run from April 5 to September 9, 2012.

"The Acquired Inability to Escape", created in 1991, which Hirst presented to the Tate Gallery. Big glass box, which, among other things, contains an ashtray, a lighter and cigarettes - as a symbol of luxury, danger and death.


Away From the Flock: Formaldehyde-preserved sheep in the Sensation exhibit at the Brooklyn Museum of Art. This work was defaced by another artist who poured ink into a tank.


Mother And Child Divided: The 1995 Turner Prize-winning work features a cow and calf cut in half and placed in formaldehyde. Hirst says: “I meant my relatives - my mother and sister - they then had a big fight. It was fun to take on this job."



beyond Belief,
A photorealistic polaroid painting of his son's birth via caesarean section



Woman at Beautiful, Shattered, Mellow, Exploding, Paint Filled Balloons Painting, one of Hirst's series of round paintings from the mid-90s.


"Some Comfort Gained from the Inherent Lies of Everything" at the Sensation exhibition at the Brooklyn Museum, 1999. This time there are two cows, cut and spaced so that the heads are at both ends.


Someone may not believe in Pegasus or a unicorn, but they actually exist thanks to the creative imagination of Hirst (Dam His anatomical sculptures of Legend and Myth were exhibited in the courtyard of the English museum Chatsworth House. It would seem nothing unusual. But not here From one side, each of the above sculptures looks normal (white, smooth stone), from the other side you can see the detailed anatomy of the mythological equids - bones, muscles, tendons, ligaments, veins and arteries, internal organs .Hirst himself explains the idea of ​​these two of his sculptures: "I want to show that science lowers religion to the ground, exposes it. And if you cut mythological creatures, it turns out that the unicorn and Pegasus are no different from the most ordinary, mortal horses. But, at the same time, the myth, like never before, becomes a reality!







"Something and Nothing" (2004): several mirror cabinets with exhibits on natural history, in which on one side are canned fish, and on the other - their fragile skeletons. The photo was taken at an exhibition in the Scottish national gallery contemporary art. Hirst's work was presented as part of the nationwide exhibition "Artist Rooms


Damien Hirst preparing an exhibition at the Gagosian Gallery, King's Cross in 2006. On the left is part of The Tranquility of Solitude (For George Dyer) triptych.


A visitor at the 2007 work Death Explained, a tiger shark cut in half, was first shown to the public as a drawing in 1991.


And this is his famous skull "For the Love of God" Encrusted with diamonds. This is Hirst's most expensive work. The precious metal and 8,601 diamonds weighing 1,106.18 carats cost $20 million.


But Hirst didn't stop there.

Here is the skull of a newborn baby, which is encrusted with eight thousand white and pink diamonds. Hirst claims that the idea to encrust human skulls came to him under the influence of the art of the ancient Aztecs.
"For me, this is a way to celebrate the opposition to death. When you look at the skull, you think that this is a symbol of the end, but if the end is so beautiful, then it inspires hope. And diamonds are perfection, clarity, wealth, sex, death and immortality. They symbolize eternity, but they also have dark side", says the artist.
The premiere of the skull "For God's sake" will take place on January 18 in Hong Kong, in the Asian branch of the Larry Gagosian Gallery. The cost of insurance, as well as the cost of materials, are still kept secret. It is only known that gems provided by suppliers of the British royal court, jewelers Bentley & Skinner, and the skull was part of the 19th-century Kunstkamera collection bought by the artist.


Visitors outside "The Kingdom", a formaldehyde-covered tiger shark at Sotheby's "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever" auction in 2008. The first shark in formaldehyde was used by Hirst in The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living in 1991. It was later redone due to visible signs of decay.


"The Dream", presented by the artist at Sotheby's in 2008, depicts a "unicorn" - a white foal with a long thin horn.


Skull, Shark’s Jaw and Iguana (left) and Half Skull on a Table, part of his No Love Lost Blue Painting exhibition in exhibition hall The Wallace Collection.


And here's another, in my opinion, interesting work, - "Let's eat today at fresh air”, which was presented at the exhibition of Contemporary British Sculpture at the Royal Academy (London).


I love butterflies very much, and of course I could not notice such a picture of butterflies


"Beautiful love"


Requiem. White roses and butterflies. 2008
Canvas, oil. 150x230


And this is a collage of thousands of individual tropical butterfly wings created by technicians in a separate studio

Golden Taurus. 2008
A close-up of one of the butterflies that is part of a work called All You Need is Love. This work was sold at Sotheby's (where this photo was taken) for 2 million 420 thousand dollars.


Stuffed bull, gold, glass, gilded steel, silicone, formaldehyde, Carrara marble plinth. 215.4 x 320 x 137.2


Here's another .... Hirst had a big "medical" series. At an exhibition in Mexico City, the president of a vitamin campaign paid $3 million for "The Blood of Christ," an installation of paracetamol tablets in a medical cabinet. "Spring lullaby" - a locker with 6136 pills laid out on razor blades went at Christie's auction for $ 19.1 million
Damien Hirst, Sleepy Spring, 2002
10.2 x 182.9 x 274 cm


Skull, ashtray and lemon. 2006–2007
Canvas, oil. 102 x 76.4

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


rotation paintings - created on a rotating potter's wheel. Hirst stands on a ladder and throws paint onto a rotating base - canvas or board. Sometimes commands assistant: "More red" or "Turpentine"
The paintings "are a visual representation of the energy of chance"

Damien Hirst or Damien Hirst(English) Damien Hirst, June 7, Bristol, UK) is one of the most expensive living artists and the most prominent figure in the Young British Artists group (eng. Young British Artists). He has dominated the British art scene since the 1990s.

Death is a central theme in his work. The most famous series of the artist - natural history: dead animals (such as a shark, sheep or cow) in formalin. Significant work - "The physical impossibility of death in the mind of the living" (Eng. ): tiger shark in an aquarium with formaldehyde. The sale of this piece in 2004 made him the second most expensive living artist (after Jasper Johns). In March 2007, Damien Hirst's exhibition titled superstition, was sold for more than 25 million.

Throughout the 1990s, his career was closely associated with art collector Charles Saatchi, but growing differences led to a split in 2003.

Biography

Career

Damien Hirst came to prominence in 1988 as a young impresario for an exhibition called "Freeze" (one-word titles were briefly in fashion at the time). The scene was an empty building in the area of ​​the Port of London, next to the Thames. Hirst, together with fellow students from Goldsmiths College, an educational institution with an innovative orientation, announced a new vector for the development of Western European art, which ended the "revival of painting of the 80s" and revived interest in everyday platitudes, sexual insinuations, and the harsh realities of life and death. Another feature, a solid dose of irony and street humor, caused an increased interest of art dealers and the art community to the generation of Richard Peterson, Sarah Lucas, Gary Hume, Ian Davenport and Hirst himself.

In 1991 Hirst's first solo exhibition, In and Out of Love, held at the Woodstock Street Gallery in London; he also had solo exhibitions at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, and at the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris. At the same time, Hurst met art dealer Jay Jopling Jay Jopling, who represents his interests to this day.

In 1992 the first Young British Artists exhibition was held at the Saatchi Gallery in north London. Hirst's work was called The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living and was a shark swimming in formaldehyde in an aquarium. The work cost Saatchi £50,000. The shark was caught by a fisherman in Australia and had a price tag of £6,000. As a result, Hirst was nominated for the Turner Prize, which was awarded to Grenville Davey. In 1993, Hirst's first notable appearance was at the Venice Biennale with Mother and Child Separated. Mother and Child Divided.

In 1994 Hurst curated the show Some Went Mad, Some Run Away at the Serpentine Gallery in London, where he presented Away from the Flock(sheep in the aquarium). In 1995 Hirst received the Turner Prize.

Hirst's autobiographical book was published in 1998. I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now. In 1999 he turned down an invitation to represent the UK at the Venice Biennale.

In September 2000, in New York, an exhibition of Hirst Damien Hirst: Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings. 100,000 people visited the exhibition in twelve weeks and all the works were sold.

In December 2004 The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living was sold by Saatchi to American collector Steve Cohen for $12 million. The piece was donated by a collector to MoMA in New York. In 2007, Damien Hirst set another price record by creating one of the most expensive modern sculptures - a skull studded with diamonds (the total number of which is 8601). The masterpiece of platinum, diamonds and human teeth, called "For the Love of God", is worth about $100 million.

Works

• In and Out of Love(1991), installation.
• The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living(1991), tiger shark in a formalin tank. It was one of the entries nominated for the Turner Prize.
• Pharmacy](1992), life-size reproduction of a pharmacy.
• A Thousand Years(1991), installation.
• Amonium Biborate (1993)
• Away from the Flock(1994), dead sheep in formaldehyde.
• Arachidic acid(1994) painting.
• Some Comfort Gained from the Acceptance of the Inherent Lies in Everything(1996) installation.
• Hymn (1996)
• Two Fucking and Two Watching
• The Stations of the Cross (2004)
• The Wrath of God (2005)
• The Inescapable Truth (2005)
• «The Sacred Heart of Jesus», (2005).
• Faithless (2005)
• "The Hat Makes de Man", (2005)
• «The Death of God», (2006)
• "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 a living artist.

"Beautiful in my head forever", estimated at 65 million pounds, was sold at auction at the London auction house "Sotheby's" for almost twice as much - for an unprecedented 111 million 577 thousand pounds, the representative of the auction told RIA Novosti.

One of the leading figures in British contemporary art Damien Hirst was born on June 7, 1965 in Bristol and grew up in Leeds. His father left the family when Damien was twelve years old, he was a mechanic and car salesman, his mother worked in a consulting office.

Despite a clearly antisocial lifestyle (he was arrested twice for shoplifting), Hirst attended an art college in Leeds, and later studied art at a university in London.

Damien Hirst was first mentioned in 1988 as a young impresario for an exposition called Freeze.

His first solo exhibition was held in 1991 in London, and soon two more exhibitions took place - at the Institute of Modern Art and at the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris. At the same time, Hurst met art dealer Jay Jopling, who represents his interests today.

Damien Hirst is one of the most expensive and outrageous living artists. His works are a challenge to society, shock, delight and disgust, for which collectors pay millions of dollars. central theme in the works of Hirst - death. Widely known for his paintings, "painted" with a dense layer of flies, butterflies and other representatives of the fauna. The most famous series of the artist Natural History: dead animals in formalin. Hirst's landmark work "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of the Living": a tiger shark in an aquarium with formaldehyde.

In 1992, the first Young British Artists exhibition was held, at which Hirst presented a shark swimming in formaldehyde in an aquarium (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living). For the shark, Hirst was nominated for the Turner Prize.

In 1993, at the Venice Biennale, Hirst presented his work Separated Mother and Child (pieces of a cow and calf in formaldehyde), which later became one of the most expensive works of art and brought the author the 1995 Turner Prize. Currently, this work is exhibited at the Museum of Modern Art in Oslo (the author's copy, the cost of which is more than 20 million dollars, is exhibited at the Tate Gallery).

April 13, 2006 in Moscow at the Gary Tatintsyan Gallery at an exhibition of chess created by the most famous artists In the 21st century, Damien Hirst owned the most unusual chess (on the board, instead of traditional figures, a battery of medical bottles cast from high-grade silver and durable glass was displayed). It was one of the most expensive works at the exhibition ($500,000).

For ten years, since the early nineties, the artist, by his own admission, had serious problems with drugs and alcohol. During this period, he became famous for his unbridled behavior and antics. Hearst currently spends most of his time at his secluded farmhouse in the north of England.

Since the late 90s, Damien Hirst has been the main record holder in the art world.

In 2000, over 100,000 people visited his exhibition in New York in 12 weeks, and all the works presented at it were sold.

In December 2004, the formaldehyde shark was sold to American collector Steve Cohen for $12 million.

In March 2007, his Superstition exhibition sold for over $25 million. A little later, the artist set another record. His Lallaby Spring (approximately 2x3 meters stainless steel cabinet with glass inlays) sold for $19.2 million, becoming the most expensive work living artist, sold at auction.

Damien Hirst became the absolute champion in terms of prices when his next sculpture "In the name of the love of God" (a skull studded with diamonds, total 8,601) was sold for $123 million.

Hurst owns a restaurant called Apteka, which he opened in the late 1990s in London's Notting Hill. In the showcase of the institution, decorative tablets of medicines, ampoules, syringes and other pharmaceutical personal belongings are displayed, and a green cross (accepted throughout the world as the Pharmacy's identification mark) flaunts above the entrance, which caused a protest from the Royal Association of Apothecaries.

Damien Hirst is married to Californian Maya Norman and has two sons - Connor (born 1995) and Cassius (born 2000).