Synopses & Reviews
With full-color plates of paintings and sculptures, this book was produced for "Damien Hirst: Forgotten Promises," the inaugural exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, Hong Kong, in 2011. It includes
For Heaven's Sake (2008), a life-size human baby skull cast in platinum and covered in 8,128 pavand#233;-set pink and white diamonds, as well as beautiful diamond cabinets in gold and silver. A group of paintingsand#160;made in 2008-2009, including
Age of Magnificence and
Fading Magnificence, show real butterflies entombed in layers of shiny metallic paint. The new Butterfly Fact Paintings are painted in oil with painstaking attention to realistic detail. "Why else would you do it, when you could just get a photograph that looks identical?" Hirst has said. "But it's not the same thing, is it? A photograph is from a moment, a split second. Painting is about stopping to look at the world, considering it, and giving it more and more importance."and#160;
The unique "flatbook" binding allows the book to open perfectly flat. There are four different dust jacket designs. An essay by curator Francesco Bonami, as well as an interview with Hirst conducted by art critic Karen Smith, are included. Text is published in both Chinese and English.and#160;
This is the signed limited edition of this book.
About the Author
Damien Hirst is one of the most celebrated living artists in the world. His work confronts the scientific, philosophical, and religious aspects of human existence and includes sculpture, painting, and printmaking. Born in Bristol,and#160;England,and#160;in 1965, he studied at Goldsmithand#8217;s College. In 1988 he curated the now-renowned London exhibition, "Freeze," in which he exhibited his work and that of his contemporaries. The exhibition is widely believed to have been the starting point of the Young British Artists' careers, and a defining moment in kick-starting cutting edge British contemporary art.and#160;In 1991 he had his first solo exhibition, also in London, "In and Out of Love." In 1992 he was a major part of the groundbreaking "Young British Artists" exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. Hirst was awarded the prestigious Turner Prize in 1995. His work has been shown in many important group and solo shows throughout the world and is in major international museum collections. . He lives and works in Devon and London.
Francesco Bonami is Manilow Senior Curator at the Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago. He is also the artistic director of the Fondazione Sandretto ReRebaudengo per l'Arte in Turin, Fondazione Pitti Discovery in Florence, and the Centro di Arte Contemporanea Villa Manin. He was the director of the 50th Biennale di Venezia of Visual Arts in 2003. He is a regular contributor to Il Riformista, La Gazzetta dello Sport and Vanity Fair Italia.
Karen Smith is based in Beijing and has recently published Nine Lives: The Birth of Avant-Garde in New China.