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Black Brilliant Utopia - Signed Print by Damien Hirst 2013 - MyArtBroker

Black Brilliant Utopia
Signed Print

Damien Hirst

AAGR (5 years) This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.

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Medium: Digital Print

Edition size: 55

Year: 2013

Size: H 86cm x W 76cm

Signed: Yes

Format: Signed Print

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Meaning & Analysis

Hirst had experimented with medical pill iconography as early as the 1980s where he made tiny incisions into a series of monochrome paintings to accommodate real pills. Another earlier and prominent body of work that pre-empted Hirst’s first pill cabinet work was his Pharmacy installation from 1992. Hirst’s Utopia series encapsulates this trajectory and the fascination with medicine that has endured throughout the artist’s career.

The pills displayed on the shelves appear like little minimalist sculptures and indeed, Hirst has likened the pharmacy to a model of minimalist order that expels fears of death and decay. Hirst has explained why he makes this comparison between medical pills and packaging to minimalism, noting a comparison to the work of Sol Le Witt and Donald Judd: “They’re not flamboyant are they? They’re not allowed to sell themselves, except in a very clinical way. Which starts to become funny.”

  • Damien Hirst, born in Bristol in 1965, is often hailed the enfant terrible of the contemporary art world. His provocative works challenge conventions and his conceptual brilliance spans installations, paintings, and sculptures, often exploring themes of mortality and the human experience. As a leading figure of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement in the late '80s, Hirst's work has dominated the British art scene for decades and has become renowned for being laced with controversy, thus shaping the dialogue of modern art.

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