Damien Hirst is an internationally renowned artist, who started to be recognised on the British art scene in 1990s as a member of a group known as Young British Artists. Known for his controversial art works inspired by death, or for his diamond skull, Damien Hirst continues to dominate British and international art world.
Larry Gagosian, one of the leading art dealers in the world, decided to hold the worldwide exhibition of twenty five years of spot paintings by Damien Hirst. It is the first time Gagosian Gallery is exhibiting single art work of a single artist throughout its eleven locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva and Hong Kong. Worldwide exhibition include more than 300 paintings, most of which are being lent by private collectors and public institutions.
Damien Hirst’s spot paintings comprise of colourful spots on differently shaped boards. As artists said himself ‘I was always a colorist, I have always had a phenomenal love of color (…) So that’s where the spot paintings came from.’ He created his first spot painting in 1986 while being a student at Goldmisth College in London. It is estimated that today there is about 1000 spot paintings of various sizes, which are made mainly by artist's assistants. Owner of Gagosian Gallery, Larry Gagosian, said that Hirst's spot paitings have already entered the popular culture.
Opening of the worldwide exhibition “The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011” took place on the 12th of January 2012. Gagosian Gallery on Britannia Street in London exhibited numerous spot paintings ranging from small spot paintings to monumental work, created on different shapes of boards, where rarely single colour is repeated. Paintings are of different dimensions, however what they have in common is that the spaces between the spots are usually equal. As artists said himself, superficially these paintings seem to be happy, however in fact it is very hard to focus on them and one can loose his boundaries while looking at these hallucinogenic canvases.
It may seem that there are limited possibilities of what an artist can do with the spots and that the exhibition may give an impression of mechanical reproduction of a single idea without underlying purpose or meaning. On the other hand, when looking at the range of the paintings, one can understand the determination with which they are made and appreciate the hallucinogenic effect which they produce. Also, the fact that spot paintings became an instantly recognisable mark of an artist himself, and that they were appreciated enough to be exhibited in all Gagosian Galleries around the globe, seems to suggest that Damien Hirst is perhaps the leading artist in the contemporary art world.
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