British contemporary artist Damien Hirst is no stranger to controversy and attention-grabbing headlines having both covered a human skull in real diamonds and submerged a great white shark in formaldehyde, dubbing it “art”. A member of the Young British Arts Movement, he artist has molted his proverbial skin several times over the span of his decades-long career in art, creating works made of priceless jewels, medicine cabinets, predators of the sea and gentle iridescent butterflies.
His series of original works covered in the bodies and wings of butterflies and insects began in 1991 when the artist was 21 years old. Butterflies emerged from their cocoons in two white, windowless rooms and flew through his exhibit entitled “In and Out of Love” before ultimately dying, demonstrating the fleeting lifespan of the insect.. In 2008, Hirst created a series of 150 works entitled the “Psalm” series made of butterfly wings on painted canvases. He arranged their wings into kaleidoscopic patterns by turning them into “cathedral prints” meant to mimic Gothic stained glass of the world’s great cathedrals, and titled them after Old Testament psalms..
Damien Hirst described butterflies as a ‘universal trigger’, stating “Everyone’s frightened of glass, everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.” The Damien Hirst butterflies known as ‘Psalms’ is part of the greater ‘Kaleidoscope’ series which was conceptualized by Hirst in 2001 after he found a Victorian tea tray covered in the pattern of butterfly wings. The works symbolize religion in several aspects through the use of the butterfly, which the Greeks depicted as the soul and and Christians, resurrection. Through the use of symmetry, the “Psalms” displays color, light and beauty and in certain respects the circular patterns found in Buddhist mandalas.
For a list of available Damien Hirst Butterflies, contact info@robinrile.com
For a list of available Damien Hirst Butterflies, contact info@robinrile.com
See Damien Hirst butterfly paintings in situ:
Shown, Damien Hirst’s butterfly artwork in home of actress Hillary Duff.
Photo by Justin Coit for Better Homes and Gardens.
Shown Daphne Guinness in front of her Damien Hirst butterflies.
Photo by Olivier Zahm source Purple Diary
Photo of Daphne Guinness’ Damien Hirst Butterfly painting.
Photo by Thomas Loof for Architectural Digest
Damien Hirst Butterfly painting
Photo by Simon Upton Architectural Digest
A close-up shot of Hirst’s butterflies Art Basel 2019
Source: My Virtual Garden
A close-up of Hirst’s butterflies
Unnatural world: detail from ‘Sympathy in White Major – Absolution II’ (2006) from The Independent, Tate Images
For a list of available Damien Hirst Butterflies, contact info@robinrile.com
“Damien Hirst Butterflies: The Psalm Series” by Robin Rile FIne Art 2019
Damien Hirst Butterflies
