Spin Painting, Kiev, Pinchuk Art Centre

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.