Damien Hirst
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Damien Hirst (born June 7, 1965) is an English artist and the most
prominent of the group that has been dubbed "Young British Artists" (or
YBAs). Hirst dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s and is
internationally renowned. During the 1990s his career was closely linked
with the collector Charles Saatchi, but increasing frictions came to a
head in 2003 and the relationship ended.
Death is a central
theme in Hirst's works. He became famous for a series in which dead
animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preserved—sometimes
having been dissected—in formaldehyde. His most iconic work is The
Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot
tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a vitrine. Its sale in 2004 made
him the world's second most expensive living artist after Jasper Johns.
In June 2007, Hirst overtook Johns when his Lullaby Spring sold for
£9.65 million at Sotheby's in London. On 30 August 2007, Hirst outdid
his previous sale of Lullaby Spring with For The Love of God which sold
for £50 million to an unknown investment group. He is also known for
"spin paintings," made on a spinning circular surface, and "spot
paintings," which are rows of randomly-coloured circles.
