Sanctum Dome
2001
Size
37.80 x 38 in
Year
2001
Medium
Drawings & Works on Paper
Reference
d1b37f9e
View in a Room
Paper, Photogravure etching in edition of 59, 96 x 96 cm.
Fashioned from butterfly wings and household paint, Damien Hirst’s ‘Psalm’ series combine the dizzying symmetry of a kaleidoscope with the radiant beauty of a rose window. Each of the 150 pieces in the series are named after a biblical psalm, and were conceived by the artist in 2001 after he found a Victorian tea tray decorated with intricate patterns of butterfly wings. The works reference the spiritual symbolism of the butterfly, used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection. The perfect symmetry which characterizes the ‘Psalms’ alludes to both the displays of light, colour and beauty as presented in Gothic, stained glass windows, and the circular patterns of Buddhist mandalas. Each piece might variously be interpreted as explorations into the nature of beauty, religion, death and the fragility of life.
1965 Bristol, United Kingdom
Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol and grew up in Leeds. In 1984 he moved to London, where he worked in construction before studying for a BA in Fine Art at Goldsmiths college. During his second year he conceived and curated a group exhibition entitled ‘Freeze.’ The show is commonly acknowledged to have been the launching point not only for Hirst, but for a generation of British artists. Since the late 1980s, Hirst has used a varied practice of installation, sculpture, painting and drawing to explore the complex relationship between art, life and death, explaining: “Art’s about life and it can’t really be about anything else... there isn’t anything else.” Through his work, he investigates and challenges contemporary belief systems, and dissects the uncertainties at the heart of human experience.
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Address
London, 436 King's Rd, Chelsea
Tanya Baxter contemporary, based in London and Hong Kong, is a leading art advisory and gallery with nearly twenty-five years’ experience working in the Post-Modern, Modern British and Contemporary art market. The London Gallery, established in 1998, is situated in Chelsea. The Art Advisory office in Hong Kong is based in the up and coming Wong Chuk Hang D...