Untitled
| Artist | Damien HIRST |
|---|---|
| Year | 2000 |
| Material/ Technique | butterflies and household gloss on canvas |
| Size/ Duration | H213.4 × W213.4cm (heart-shaped) |
| Copyright Notice | © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2018. |
| Year of acquisition/ donation | 2000（作品購入年月日：2000/09/27） |
| Description | Born in Bristol, UK in 1965. Lives and works in London and Devon. While studying at Goldsmiths College, University of London in 1988, Damien Hirst took the initiative in organizing an exhibition, “Freeze,” for fellow artists of his generation. In the late 1980s, his art works produced a sensation in the British contemporary art world, which had fallen into dormancy, and he became the most prominent figure in the world-renowned YBA (Young British Artists) phenomena. Among his creations are dead animals, including cows and sharks, he has sliced into sections, preserved in formaldehyde, and exhibited in glass tanks. Other works introduce medical elements by employing pills. These works evince a style both harsh and peaceful, in which cruelty and beauty coexist. Multi-layered and filled with contradiction, Hirst’s art deals with issues close to the foundation of human existence. Ever since his 1991 solo exhibition “In and Out of Love,” Damien Hirst has continually produced paintings of butterfly theme. At that exhibition, paintings with dead butterflies attached to them were displayed on the ground floor, while on the first floor, butterflies hatched from cocoons stuck on canvases flew about the gallery, laid eggs, and died. Thus the entire life cycle of butterflies was exhibited, while great numbers of butterflies gathered on the floor. In "Untitled", Hirst has once again expressed his idea that “death can appear beautiful.” While having a heart shape expressive of love and life, the work is flecked with dead butterflies, a portion of whose wings have melded with the glossy pink canvas. The feelings of shock awoken by the image of dead animals mixes with a sense of wonder at the beauty of the brightly colored butterflies. Hirst’s stance of evoking life’s vigor by confronting us with the inescapable truth of death can also be understood from the work. |
NOTES
This Collection Data page contains the works and materials in the collection of 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, as of April 1, 2018.
Artists are listed alphabetically by artist’s surname.
Works and materials by the same artists are listed according to the date of the work in principle.
Works whose dates are unidentified are listed at the end of each item. Some works are not listed according to the date of work due to their relations.
The data of works and materials are listed in order of title, production year, material/technique/form, dimensions, donor’s name, copyright holder and credit for photograph.
Dimensions are given by height (H) x width (W) in centimeters for plane work, and height (H) x width (W) x depth (D) in cm for 3-D work. Diameter (Ø) is used for circular work.
For the name of country or city, the name currently used in English is listed in principle.