Basic Data

Damien Steven Hirst is a contemporary sculptor, painter and curator. Since the 1990s Hirst has been one of the best-known representatives of the Young Bristish Artists. In his artworks and editions, the British artist deals with themes of consumer culture, religion, life and death. Hirst achieved great success and fame through his diamond-studded skull sculptures and his animal bodies inlaid in formaldehyde.

• Born: 7 June 1965
• Place of birth: Bristol, UK
• Nationality: British
• Studied at: Goldsmiths, University of London
• Similar artists: Jake and Dinos Chapman, Jeff Koons
• Era: Contemporary art

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Biography

Damien Steven Hirst was born on June 7, 1965 in Bristol and grew up as a working-class son in poor circumstances in Leeds. His single mother, however, did not have it easy with the young Hirst, who came into conflict with the law several times. Even though his school performance was rather poor, he was able to excel in art and drawing and attended the Jacob Kramer School of Art in Leeds.

Hirst decided to move to London in 1984. Here he studied liberal arts at the well-known Goldsmiths College in London from 1986 to 1989. He quickly attracted attention in the art scene. He came to the attention of gallery owner and art collector Charles Saatchi, who was an early patron of Hirst. While still a student, Hirst organized and curated the exhibition "Freeze" in a warehouse in London's docklands district, which helped him and other fellow students achieve great fame and is considered the birth of the "Young British Artists" (YBAs). In 1995, Damien Hirst won the prestigious Turner Prize.

Beginning in the 1990s, Hirst began working on his well-known works with animal cadavers, which he arranged in tanks filled with formalin. Thus it was Hirst's work "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" (1991), involving a tiger shark pickled in a glass case with formaldehyde, that marked the beginning of his successful career as an artist. But the Briton was also able to catapult himself into the art headlines with his diamond-studded monumental skull "For the Love of God" (2007). In addition, he is also known for his "Medicine Cabinets," in which he arranges pills in a set box-like fashion. In his "Spin and Spots Paintings," color and structure are in the foreground in addition to the serial. As the artist explains, "I just move color around on its own. So that's where the spot paintings come from - to create a structure to do those colors, and do nothing. It is just a way of pinning down the joy of color."

After a creative hiatus, the Brit was prominently featured at the 2017 Biennale with the exhibition "Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable." Here he showed a monumental installation of sculptures and other objects that the artist presented as the remains of a fictional 2,000-year-old shipwreck. In 2020, Hirst showed his recent "Cherry Blossoms" paintings in a solo exhibition at the Fondation Cartier in Paris.

Even as a child and teenager, Hirst was interested in the morbid. He often visited the anatomy department of the Leeds Medical School as a teenager to draw. Thus, themes such as death, transience, destruction and existential fears of life, consumerism and religion can be found in his works. Hirst invites his viewers to discover the beauty and cruelty of his works. In doing so, he treats them with a mixture of deep symbolism and the expression of a cool aesthetic. At the same time, it is awe and disgust that can be triggered in the viewer. In addition, however, it is Hirst's relentlessly entrepreneurial approach to art with which he attracted attention in the art world. Instead of selling his works through a gallery, the Briton had an entire exhibition auctioned off at Sotheby's in 2008, which fetched top prices on the art market. In addition, the polarizing painter and installation artist also produced music videos and runs a restaurant in London.

In 1993 and 2003 he was a participant in the Venice Biennale. In 2012, the Tate Gallery in London dedicated a major retrospective to him, which was literally mobbed by the public. Since the 1980s, his works have been presented in over 80 solo exhibitions and in over 260 group exhibitions worldwide. Hirst, who is now one of the most successful contemporary artists, lives and works in the southwest of England, where he is the master of a large studio.

Exhibitions

• 27.11.21 – 20.03.22 Macht! Licht! – Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg.
• 06.07.21 – 02.02.22 Damien Hirst. Cherry Blossoms – Fondation Cartier, Paris.
• 06.07.21 – 23.10.21 Damien Hirst - Forgiving and Forgetting – Gagosian Gallery, Rome.
• 26.06.21 – 20.03.22 Masterpieces in Miniature: The 2021 Model Art Gallery – PALLANT HOUSE GALLERY, Chichester.
• 17.06.21 – 17.10.21 London Calling. Arte británico hoy. De David Hockney a Idris Khan –Fundació Bancaixa, Valencia.
• 10.05.21 – 10.10.21 DAMIEN HIRST - Galleria Borghese, Rome.
• 10.10.20 – 30.05.21 BEYOND THE PAIN - Galerie Stadt Sindelfingen.
• 02.10.20 – 11.04.21 My Generation. Die Sammlung Jablonka - Albertina, Vienna.
• 26.05.20 – 10.01.21 ANIMALS IN ART - ARKEN Museum of Modern Art, Ishoj.
• 23.04.20 – 06.06.20 Tales from the Colony Room: Art and Bohemia – Delasposa Gallery, London.
• 19.02.20 – 17.05.20 Amuse-bouche. The Taste of Art – Museum Tinguely, Basel.
• 06.11.19 – 11.01.20 ACCROCHAGE - Galerie Boisserée, Cologne.
• 22.06.19 – 29.09.19 Yorkshire Sculpture International 2019 - Yorkshire Sculpture International, Wakefield.
• 24.05.19 – 26.08.19 Forever Young - Museum Brandhorst, Munich.
• 07.07.18 - 25.08.18 ACCROCHAGE /// DAMIEN HIRST – "Works from Schizophrenogenesis" - Galerie Boisserée, Cologne.
• 23.06.18 – 06.01.19 Democracy Anew?  - PinchukArtCentre Kiew °.
• 11.05.18 – 30.06.18 Damien Hirst - Colour Space Paintings - Gagosian Gallery, New York.
• 24.03.18 – 27.05.18 Walking On The Fade Out Lines - Rockbund Art Museum, Shanghai °.
• 01.03.18 – 14.04.18 Damien Hirst - The Veil Paintings - Gagosian Gallery Beverly Hills.
• 20.01.18 – 14.04.18 DAMIEN HIRST - Galerie Bastian, Berlin.
• 23.11.17 – 13.01.18 DAMIEN HIRST. VISUAL CANDY AND NATURAL HISTORY - Gagosian Gallery Hong Kong.

Awards

• 1995: Turner Prize.
• 1995: Prix Eliette by Karajan.

Films

• Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, Mockumentary by Sam Hobkinson, 90 min, Great Britain 2017.

Literature

• Damien Hirst. Gallery Art in a Material World, Ulrich Blanché, Baden-Baden 2018.
• Damien Hirst.  Arnulf Rainer (Durcheinander), Rudi Fuchs (Publ.), Cologne 2014.
• Konsumkunst : Kultur und Kommerz bei Banksy und Damien Hirst, Ulrich Blanché, Bielefeld 2014.
• Damien Hirst : [Ausstellung Damien Hirst, Tate Modern London, 4. April - 9. September 2012, Ann Gallagher (Publ.), Munich 2012.
• On the Way to Work, Damien Hirst, Gordon Burn, London 2001.

Collections

Germany

• Berlin - me Collectors Room Berlin
• Berlin - Sammlung Boros
• Munich - Museum Brandhorst
• Frankfurt - Sammlung Deutsche Bank
• Wolfsburg - Kunstmuseum Wolfsburg

France

• Toulouse - Les Abattoirs - Frac Midi-Pyrénées
• Senlis - Fondation Francès

England

• London - Tate Collection
• London - Zabludowicz Collection
• London - British Council Visual Arts
• London - Monsoon Art Collection

Spain

• Madrid - Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía

Norway

• Oslo - Astrup Fearnley Museet

USA

• New York - Museum of Modern Art (MoMA)
• New York - Lever House
• Miami - RUBELL FAMILY COLLECTION Miami °
• Los Angeles - Broad Contemporary Art Museum Santa Monica / The Broad Art Foundation
• New Haven - Yale Center for British Art

Weblinks

• Damien Hirst Kunstaspekte Exhibition and collection overview.
• www.damienhirst.com Homepage of the artist.