Damien Hirst

Trinity – Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology, 2000

Damien Hirst, In and Out of Love (White Paintings and Live Butterflies) – installation view, 1991

Sources:

Dannatt, Adrian. "Damien Hirst : Life's like This Then It Stops." Flash Art 169 (1993): 59-63. Print.

In an interview with Adrian Dannatt for Flash Art magazine, Damien Hirst discusses the motivation behind the majority of his work and his attitude towards death, life and his intentions behind particular design points. His states his sensationalism as not for the sake of shocking the public, but to bring viewers closer to the consideration of death and it’s inevitability. He speaks of a lack of death in life and the living and the pain of being alone while living as greater than death itself, yet notes the aversion of the masses to reminders of death and dying. His pieces involve elements that symbolize a flow of ideas into and out of his exhibitions—particularly his use of glass and cut slits in the transparent panels of pharmacy displays. He states that art is not life, but a way of communicating ideas about life through metaphors.      

Hirst, Damien. "Damien Hirst at Tate Modern." Tate Etc. 24 (2012): 29. Print.

Damien Hirst, in this article published in Tate etc., discusses the influences behind his piece, “For the Love of God,” shown in a recent exhibit at the Tate Modern. He states his interest in the topic of death and his method of confronting death through his work. “For the Love of God,” Hirst says, was influenced by the Mexican tradition of embracing death and the celebration of the Day of the Dead. He was inspired by such commonly seen decorated skulls to create his own version—a diamond encrusted skull—as a way of coming to terms with the morbidity of death’s concept. Hirst’s explanation for his piece follows a common theme in which many of his works provoke thoughts of the nearness of death to life.