2009
British artist Damien Hirst is widely considered the enfant terrible of contemporary art. He is the most prominent of the so-called Young British Artists, or YBAs, a group, largely composed of Hirst’s classmates at Goldsmiths, in London, that began exhibiting together in warehouses and factories after 1988 and is known for the use of unconventional materials and “shock tactics” in his paintings, prints, sculptures and other works.
In the 1990s, Hirst said, “I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it.” And indeed, he is notorious for piquing critics and baffling the public with such pieces as his signature glass vitrines containing dead sheep or sharks in formaldehyde, and his diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God.
Working primarily in sculpture, Hirst takes after French modernist master Marcel Duchamp in his use of ready-made objects and materials, which he combines to ironic effect. He often creates in series, as with "The Cure (Violet)" and "The Cure (Turquoise)," both from 2014, which are among several pill paintings referencing Andy Warhol’s embrace of mass production.
Belonging to Hirst's ongoing series of “spot” paintings, begun in the 1980s, the 2005 piece Xylene Cyanol Dye Solution is striking for its machinelike, industrial uniformity and almost childlike simplicity, a seeming rebuke to the idea of the artist-as-genius.
In addition to making art, Hirst has launched stores that sell editioned works (Other Criteria), a restaurant (Pharmacy2) and even his own London museum (Newport Street Gallery).
Find original Damien Hirst paintings, prints and other works on 1stDibs.
The Hours Spin Skull Sculpture, Post-Modern, Mixed Media, 2000s
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
The skull is one of the recurring motifs in Damien Hirst’s artistic repertoire, symbolizing themes of mortality and the passage of time. In this exclusive edition, Hirst has partnere...
Plastic
'The Hours Spin Skull' (Purple/Green/Yellow/Red/Blue)
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
The skull is one of the recurring motifs in Damien Hirst’s artistic repertoire, symbolizing themes of mortality and the passage of time. In this exclusive edition, Hirst has partnere...
Plastic
'The Hours Spin Skull' (Orange/Purple/Green/Dark Red/ Blue)
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
The skull is one of the recurring motifs in Damien Hirst’s artistic repertoire, symbolizing themes of mortality and the passage of time. In this exclusive edition, Hirst has partnere...
Plastic
'The Hours Spin Skull' (Dark Blue/Dark Red/Purple/Orange/Dark Green)
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
The skull is one of the recurring motifs in Damien Hirst’s artistic repertoire, symbolizing themes of mortality and the passage of time. In this exclusive edition, Hirst has partnere...
Plastic
'The Hours Spin Skull' (Light Blue/Blue/Orange/Purple/Yellow)
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
The skull is one of the recurring motifs in Damien Hirst’s artistic repertoire, symbolizing themes of mortality and the passage of time. In this exclusive edition, Hirst has partnere...
Plastic
'The Hours Spin Skull' (Light Green/Orange/Pink/Light Blue/Purple)
By Damien Hirst
Located in New York, NY
The skull is one of the recurring motifs in Damien Hirst’s artistic repertoire, symbolizing themes of mortality and the passage of time. In this exclusive edition, Hirst has partnere...
Plastic
The Hours Spin Skull 2009, Sculpture, Damien Hirst, YBAs, Contemporary Art
By Damien Hirst
Located in Zug, CH
Damien Hirst, The Hours Spin Skull 2009 Sculpture (Glosspaint on plastic) 19 × 12.5 × 19.5 cm (7.5 × 4.9 × 7.7 in) Titled, not signed In excellent condition. Please note: the color ...
Plastic
Skull Spin Painting 2009, Damien Hirst
By Damien Hirst
Located in Madrid, MD
Damien Hirst – Skull Spin Painting, 2009 Acrylic on paper, mounted in a museum-grade acrylic case with fluorescent-colored sides. This vibrant work by Damien Hirst belongs to his re...
Acrylic
"Skull Spin Painting" inscribed acrylic on paper painting by artist Damien Hirst
By Damien Hirst
Located in Boca Raton, FL
"Skull Spin Painting" acrylic on paper painting by artist Damien Hirst. Created with public collaboration at the Damien Hirst Spin Workshop to celebrate the opening of Requiem at the...
Paper, Acrylic
DAMIEN HIRST (b. 1965) "Skull" Signed and Stamped on the Back
By Damien Hirst
Located in Madrid, ES
DAMIEN HIRST (b. 1965) "Skull," acrylic on paper. Signed and stamped on the back. "This painting was made to celebrate the opening of Damien Hirst's Requiem at the PinciukArtCentre ...
Acrylic
Damien Hirst - Abacus, hirst, skull, silver, sculpture, contemporary art
By Damien Hirst
Located in London, GB
Damien Hirst (b.1965) Abacus - The Dream is Dead 2007 silver 14.5 x 14 x 21 cm incised, titled and numbered ‘Abacus Damien Hirst The Dream is dead 2/12’ (on the verso) edition 2/12 Price: $85,000 USD Provenance: White Cube, London Private collection, New York Sale: Christie’s London, 29 June 2011, lot 114 Private collection, London (acquired at the above sale) Notes: ‘I remember I was thinking that there were four important things in life: religion, love, art and science. At their best, they’re all just tools to help you find a path through the darkness. None of them really work that well, but they help. Of them all, science seems to be the one right now. Like religion, it provides the glimmer of hope that maybe it will be all right in the end.’ (D. Hirst, quoted in conversation with S. O’Hagan in New Religion Damien Hirst, exh. cat., British Council, London, 2006, p. 5) Born in 1965 in Bristol, Hirst grew up in Leeds and subsequently went to Goldsmith's College in London. Between 1988 and 1990 he curated a series of exhibitions of work by his contemporaries including the highly acclaimed group shows Freeze, Modern Medicine and Gambler. In his own work Hirst has continually challenged the boundaries between art, science, the media and popular culture. A 12-foot tiger shark, a cow and her calf sawn in two, pharmaceutical bottles...
Silver
Damien Hirst "Diamond Skull (For the Love of God)"
By Damien Hirst
Located in Boston, MA
Artist: Hirst, Damien Title: Diamond Skull (For the Love of God) Date: 2007 Medium: Screenprint with Glazes Unframed Dimensions: 39.25" x 29.5" Framed Dimensions: 40.5" x 30.5" ...
Glaze, Screen
Once built for curbs and handrails, these boards now hang beside blue-chip works in major museums and collectors’ homes.
Fierceness and fragility coalesce as the British artist revisits a cherished motif — the butterfly.
