355 - HIRST, DAMIEN

HIRST, DAMIEN 1965 Bristol Title: Happiness. Date: 2008. Technique: Collage on canvas. Dimensions: 35.5 x 43 cm. Notation: Signed. Number: 20/35. Frame: Studio bar. Mounted in Plexiglas. The work is part of an edition of 35 one-of-a-kind pieces. Provenance: - Galerie Koch, Hanover (label) - Private collection, Bavaria (acquired from the previous owner in 2016) - A work by one of the most internationally significant representatives of the Young British Artists and the 1995 Turner Prize winner - Combines butterflies, circles of color, tablets, and syringes—several central motifs from Hirst’s body of work—in a compelling composition - A striking exploration of the themes central to Hirst’s work: beauty and transience, life and death Damien Hirst is one of the best-known artists on the international contemporary British art scene. Even before he studied at Goldsmiths College in London from 1986 to 1989, he was deeply engaged with anatomy and regularly drew at Leeds Medical School. His exploration of the human body and transience had a lasting influence on his later work. In 1988, Hirst curated the exhibition “Freeze,” which is regarded as the birth of the Young British Artists movement. He gained international renown in the early 1990s with his spectacular animal installations. His shark preserved in formaldehyde, “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living,” became an icon of contemporary art. In 1995, Hirst was awarded the Turner Prize. Life and death, beauty and transience, as well as the relationship between nature, science, and medicine, form central themes of his body of work. “Happiness” from 2008 brings together several characteristic motifs from Hirst’s work. Scattered across a white background are colored circles, white tablets, and mounted butterflies of varying sizes. Three syringes arranged vertically and filled with dark red liquid provide structure to the composition. The intense color and fragile beauty of the butterflies contrast with the clinical austerity of the tablets and syringes. The presentation in a Plexiglas box is reminiscent of a scientific display case and, at the same time, of the tradition of the cabinet of curiosities, where nature, art, and science converge. As in a collection, the artist brings the individual elements together and places them in a dynamic relationship with one another. Here, Hirst combines the colored circles familiar from his “Spot Paintings” with butterflies, as well as his recurring exploration of pharmacy and medicine. The title “Happiness” is deliberately ambiguous: beauty and joie de vivre are set against vulnerability and transience. Estimated shipping costs for this lot: This lot is not suitable for parcel shipping. Transport is only available via a shipping company after consultation following the auction. Additional shipping insurance Shipping insurance up to a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: max. 41.65 euros over a total invoice amount of 25,000 euros: 1.8 per thousand Shipping to the U.S. by individual arrangement after the auction. #Damien Hirst #Young British Artists #England #Contemporary Art #Objects #2000s #Collage #Multiples. In accordance with §26 UrhG (German Copyright Act), VAN HAM is obligated to pay a statutory resale royalty on the sale proceeds of all original works of fine art and photography whose authors have not been deceased for 70 years prior to the end of the calendar year of the sale. The buyer shall contribute 1.5% of the hammer price toward this fee.