Name: Spinning Around
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Damien Hirst's Spinning Around (signed) is estimated to be worth between £1,550 and £2,300. This etching print, created in 2002, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 1%. This work has an auction history of one sale on 19th July 2023 and has an average return to the seller of £1,070. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 68.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

July 2023

Leonard Joel, Melbourne

Australia

Meaning & Analysis

Spinning Around is a signed etching from Damien Hirst’s second volume of The Action Of The World Upon Things from 2002. The print shows very tightly rendered concentric circles, depicted in blue and purple and with very thin, scratchy lines. Hirst’s signature, the print date and title can faintly be seen inscribed into the surface of the etching.

To create the In A Spin, The Action Of The World On Things, Hirst attached copper plates to a spin machine in his studio, drawing on them with sharp tools as the machine rotated. The use of the rotating machine is reminiscent of the optical experiments of the Dada artist Marcel Duchamp from the 1920s and ’30s. While Duchamp used motorised spinning devices to create optical illusions, Hirst instead uses a spin machine towards aesthetic and expressionistic ends.

Hirst’s aim to create these spin works for aesthetic purposes was made clear in his 1994 installation exhibition, Making Beautiful Drawings. During this exhibition, visitors could create their own spin drawings on a pedal-powered turntable machine, highlighting Hirst’s interest in interrogating originality and repetition throughout his artistic oeuvre.