Damien Hirst’s work has grabbed both public’s and critics’ attention. His provocative art addresses death and rebirth, vanities and beauty, and technology.
Damien Hirst, Francis Bacon, Ivan Eyre, Angus Fairhurst, Sarah Lucas
As a young and virtually unknown artist, Hirst climbed far and fast. His shark, suspended in a tank of formaldehyde, wowed and repulsed audiences in 1991. Like the French artist Marcel Duchamp, Hirst employed ready-made objects to shocking effect, and in the process, he questioned the very nature of art.
Love him or hate him, Hirst was a visionary in anticipating the needs of the contemporary art market. One could argue, as some have, that this in itself is a form of art.