Displaying items by tag: Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst’s formaldehyde fish and Piero Manzoni’s white canvas were among the top purchases during Frieze Week in London as the auction houses sold 231.2 million pounds ($373 million) of art.

As the biggest week-long concentration of art events in Europe ended yesterday, dealers at Frieze Art Fair individually reported brisk sales and the tallies at the auction houses almost doubled from last year’s October sales.

A self-portrait by Pablo Picasso that was created in 1901, and has not previously been exhibited in public before, will go on display in central London this week. The exhibition will include works by Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst, and great British painter Francis Bacon. The self-portrait by Picasso depicts the Spanish artist and sculptor at the age of 30, looking directly at the viewer while painting by candlelight.

The "Self" exhibition runs until 13 December at the Ordovas gallery, and features a number of works either not seen in public before - or for a considerable amount of time; including Francis Bacon's self-portrait, which is one of the artist's first studies of a single head.

Phillips will inaugurate its new auction house and exhibition space in London’s Mayfair on October 6th with a group exhibition of contemporary sculpture, dreamt up by star curator Francesco Bonami. The exhibition will be on view during Frieze Week, alongside works to be offered at the Contemporary Art Evening and Day Auctions on October 15th and 16th.

“A Very Short History of Contemporary Sculpture” includes 33 works by internationally renowned artists, including Carl Andre, Bruce Nauman, Louise Bourgeois, Felix González-Torres, Matthew Barney, Damien Hirst, Donald Judd, Jeff Koons, and Ai Weiwei.

Damien Hirst’s first solo exhibition in Sweden opens on 29 August, at McCabe Fine Art in Stockholm. Known for producing art that breaks boundaries and explores the relationships between art, science, religion, death and beauty, Hirst has developed a wide-ranging artistic practice that includes installation, sculpture, painting and drawing. In the twenty-six years since he emerged as a leading member of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement with ‘Freeze’, the seminal exhibition curated by Hirst in 1988, the artist has risen to international fame with iconic works that include the shark suspended in formaldehyde ("The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," 1991) and the diamond-encrusted skull ("For the Love of God," 2007). Painting has also remained an important aspect of Hirst’s practice with prolific series including the "Spot Paintings," "Spin Paintings" and the "Kaleidoscopes"; in which vibrantly colored butterfly wings are arranged in intricate patterns and stuck into household gloss paint.

In 2008 Hirst created a series of one hundred and fifty "Psalm" paintings, each named after an Old Testament psalm.

Damien Hirst the Turner Prize winning British artist has purchased one of London’s blingiest homes for a reported £34 million ($57 million). The mansion, a five story, 14 bedroom, white stuccoed building was designed by John Nash, in the Regency style of architecture. It was Commissioned in 1811 by the Prince Regent and located in the park of the same name. The Grade I listed building is set in a half-acre garden plot.

The former YBA has added this jewel to his property portfolio to complement his North Devon, 24 acre holdings where he plans to build a new town with 750 homes. The artist also owns the 19th century Toddington Manor which sports 300 rooms. Hirst, who has a reported £215 million in personal weath is  the most successful living artist of his generation.

I bought some art the other day — nothing too crazy, nothing too expensive, nothing made by an ex-graffiti artist going legit and now giddily bilking rappers out of their piles of new money. Just something beautiful, something I had an emotional response to, something that I perceived as having value independent of its function or cost of production.

That’s how it begins, right? Not my personal collection, but the idea that value is subjective, open to interpretation and influence. If you look closely, the art I chose will reveal something about me, yes, but not that I’ve been hoodwinked.

Mead Carney, the contemporary art space and advisory firm founded by Nigel Mead in London in 2012, is the first commercial gallery to open in Porto Montenegro, which has been dubbed “the Monte Carlo of the Adriatic”. This month the gallery launched with the exhibition, “The Shock of the New” (until 30 September), which includes work by Damien Hirst, Gerhard Richter and Richard Prince.

The Adriatic Sea port, a tax-friendly destination and the home port of choice for many super-yacht owners, is in the Bay of Kotor, which is a Unesco World Heritage site.

North Devon’s council has approved Damien Hirst’s plan to build an entire town just outside of Ilfracombe, a seaside resort on the English coast. The contemporary artist announced the project, which will include 750 homes, a school, playgrounds, stores, office buildings, and a health center, in early 2012. The new development, which is being referred to as the Southern Extension, is expected to feature environmentally-friendly architectural elements such as wind turbines, solar panels, and high-tech insulation. Hirst currently has a studio, restaurant, and several properties in Ilfracombe. 

While planners believe that the development would bring construction jobs to the area and boost the town’s economy, critics claim that the project is too large for the 187-acre area and would negatively affect surrounding wildlife

Damien Hirst’s art complex in south London, which was initially due to open this year, will take a little longer to complete. A spokeswoman for Science Ltd, Hirst’s company, says that it is now due to open “in May or June” next year. The centre, which is designed by Caruso St John architects, runs the length of Newport Street in Vauxhall. The former theatre carpentry and scenery production workshops will become six galleries. Office space and a restaurant are also planned.

Early in 2012, Hirst announced plans for the ambitious new venue which, he said will provide a place to show his collection of contemporary art. Hirst is now looking to hire a collection and exhibitions co-ordinator who will be based at the Newport Street complex.

Damien Hirst’s latest line of jewelry from Hoorsenbuhs and Other Criteria, titled the Cathedral Collection, features bejeweled medicine capsules, reports Bazaar.

A long, beaded Pill Rosary irreverently replaces the traditional Crucifix with a Hirst-monogrammed golden pill that has been cracked open, releasing a stream of tiny rubies and black and white diamonds. A chunky Pill Ring featuring a tangle of similarly gem-encrusted pills completes the two-piece collection.