Catalogue sample

The Damien Hirst Artist Rooms Exhibition Catalogue, Leeds Art Gallery July - October 2011

Turn right as you enter the gallery

Grey Periodic Table – Just that; a large Periodic table, reminiscent of Chemistry lessons gone by, into which Hirst has cleverly embodied chemical symbols spelling the word Pharmacy in green. This was on the wall in the Pharmacy Restaurant and bar (below) and was copied onto boardn to create this piece when it closed.

Grey Periodic Table - copyright Damien Hirst

Spot Painting – On a square board. Reminiscent of Bridget Riley in the way it plays with your vision.

Spot Painting - copyright Damien Hirst

Pharmacy Restaurant and Bar – This is a representation of the interior of the Notting Hill restaurant that Hirst co-owned in the late Nineties until 2003. Most notable is the molecule motif used throughout from the chair backs to menu covers and the wall paper combining references from the New Testament with images of pharmaceuticals in miniature. This is very cleverly done in the minutia of its detail. Hirst designed the whole of the actual restaurant interior.

Pharmacy Restaurant wallpaper - copyright Damien Hirst

He Internalised Everything. No image available – Gas canisters, rubber tubes leading to a metal contraption on a desk and a chair split in half behind the desk possibly demonstrating the force of pent up energy emitting from the previous occupant. Presented in a glass case.

The Main Room

Mantra : Butterflies and glass paint on canvas ; a visually stunning wheel of colour  comprising  butterflies of all shapes, sizes and hues. This is particularly effective from a distance.

Mantra - Detail of Butterfly Wheel - copyright Damien Hirst

                     

Painkillers (Light box). No image available – Close up enlarged black and white photographs of multiple, uniform pain killers illuminated. 

With Dead Head. No image available. A photo of Damien Hirst with a replica of a death mask. Make of this what you will!

Monument to the living and the Dead:  Butterflies and household gloss on canvas. A large rectangular piece comprising half  black background with mounted butterflies and the other half white with the same.

Anatomy of an Angel - copywright Damien Hirst

The Anatomy of an Angel – This piece is half life-size, classical white sculpture of an angel and half skeleton and internal organs in the same style. This is a visually stunning and provocative image.

Away From The Flock – The famous sheep in formaldehyde and indeed the creature has been well preserved.

 

Away from the flock - copyright Damien Hirst

Trinity – Pharmacology, Physiology, Pathology (mixed media) – This work has been based on models of the anatomy used traditionally by medical students. It is split into three sections that sit side by side. However it is difficult to see the distinction between the three sections and the observer is left wondering if the “Trinity” refers to the exhibition as a whole instead.

Trinity - copyright Damien Hirst

                                    

Cocaine Hydrochloride (spot painting) . No image available– This is a triangular shaped piece presumably representing molecules in the same style to the work “Spot Painting” by the Pharmacy Restaurant and Bar installation. 

Controlled substances key (spot painting) – This is another spot painting but this time each circle is labelled with its chemical element, a clear reference to” The grey Periodic Table: piece.

Controlled Substances Key copyright Damien Hirst

Aniline/ Chloropicrin UV ink and charcoal on canvas. Two huge black and white skull images that face you as you walk in to the main room. One shows the jaw open and the other closed.

Artist Rooms – Damien Hirst, Leeds Art Gallery 15th July to 30th October 2011