Damien Hirst

DAMIEN HIRST

THE UNBEARABLE LIGHTNESS OF DEATH

Spectacularly, iconoclastically, Damien Hirst's works stage existential themes like life and death. High and popular culture are on an equal footing in Hirst whose art challenges good taste and what is permitted in art.

Birthday Card, 2001

Description
A big, shiny, pink heart-shaped canvas with twenty multi-coloured, exotic butterflies attached to it.

About the work
At first glance the large painting is very beautiful. The seductive pink is complemented by the many colours of the butterflies, making for a highly decorative result.

Closer scrutiny of the painting, however, reveals the butterflies not to be painted: Hirst has used the wet paint as flypaper to the live butterflies. The gargantuan heart has been turned into an aesthetic but banal and devious death trap.
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Hirst's art in general
Hirst interprets the universal, existential themes running through art history, making sure to break every taboo in the process. He is conscious of the provocative elements and utilises controversies to force a reaction from the audience.
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Literature
"Damien Hirst: I want to spend the rest of my life everywhere, with everyone, one to one, always, forever, now" Robert Violet, Booth-Clibborn, London, 1997
"Romance in the age of uncertainty : Damien Hirst", White Cube, London, 2003