Damien Hirst U. K. , b. 1965

Biography

Damien Hirst is a contemporary artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He often cited as a key member of the Young British Artists (YBAs), who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s.

Death is a central theme in the artist's ouevre. He gained notoriety for a series of artworks in which dead and dissected animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preserved in formaldehyde. The most widely recognised work of these was The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot (4.3 m) tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a clear display case. Hirst has also made "spin paintings", created on a spinning circular surface, and "spot paintings", which are rows of randomly coloured c created by his assistants.

Since the late 1980’s, Hirst has used a varied practise of installation, sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the complex relationship between art, life and death. Explaining: “Art’s about life and it can’t really be about anything else ... there isn’t anything else,” Hirst’s work investigates and challenges contemporary belief systems, and dissects the tensions and uncertainties at the heart of human experience.

Works