Damien Hirst: A Different Approach to Contemporary Art

Born on June 7, 1965, the artist is one of the most well-known names of the artist group Young British Artists, which emerged in the 90s. The person who makes him stand out even more is known as the famous auction house owner Charles Saatchi.

Damien Hirst, who held his first solo exhibition in 1991, often deals with the theme of death in his works. His best-known works include animals such as cows and sharks in formaldehyde pools.

Hirst came to the fore in 1993 with a work that would cause controversy in the art world. He took part in the Venice Biennale with his work “Mother and Child, Divided”. With this work, which can be seen as a work that has given the signals that the artist will use the theme of death in his works, a question revolving around the artist has emerged: How does the artist use dead animals in his works?

“What do you do if an animal is symmetrical? You cut it in the middle and you can see inside and outside at the same time. It is beautiful. The only problem is that he's dead." Damien Hirst

Every artist is remembered for the materials and methods he uses to perform his art. Formaldehyde, along with Hirst…

It is known that Hirst was trying to develop new techniques through technology and chemistry so that the dead animal bodies he used would last longer and be exhibited without deterioration. For this reason, it deposits and protects animal bodies in a solution called formaldehyde, which is a chemical component that prevents decay. The exhibitions, which include animal limbs and bodies preserved in glass chambers filled with this component, were both protested by animal rights activists and attracted collectors.

So much so that his work “The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living” consists of exhibiting a 4.3-meter shark in formaldehyde, and Hirst sold this work for $8 million in 2004.

It is known that Hirst, who is known to have an interest in underwater, killed various kinds of butterflies as well as animals such as zebra, cow, calf, fly, sheep, and pig for his controversial art and ensured that they were delivered to him.

Another striking point about Hirst, who has been criticized for many of his works, is that he works with a very large team and has many assistants.

Equipped with advanced technology to preserve the works as long as possible, the Science Gallery & Studio is a building designed by Hirst. Moreover, the building contains a special "dead animal protection unit" where the very problem will be solved and their corpses will be kept without decaying. Located in London, this building includes both a gallery and a studio, as well as many contemporary works by Hirst.

This modern architecture gives a clue once again that Hirts tries to make the most of the benefits that science and technology can provide. Many criticisms are that he is trying to gain this benefit not for his art but to preserve its investment value.

Is it creativity to use the design that belongs to nature?

Artists often interpret or redesign the existing one differently. Hirst, on the other hand, is known for preferring to use natural designs and diversity of species. So much so that he exhibited his work, which consists of 9000 butterflies of different species and sizes, in the 23-week-long exhibition In and Out of Love organized by Tate Modern in 2012. Despite criticism and backlash, he argued that it actually provides an environment that prolongs the lifespan of butterflies.

Art or murder?

The Tate Modern exhibition in 2012… A mechanism and this time a large, two-chambered glass chamber containing live butterflies and flies… There is a small hole in one place of this glass chamber, and this hole opens into another glass cage. In the second part, there is the rotting head of a calf. The flies that pass from one section to the next first enjoy this feast offered to them, and then they lose their lives by touching the electric wires on the walls of the cage... But do the massacres, which are both criticized and said to be normalized under the name of contemporary art, show that every way is permissible for the sake of art?

It seems possible to understand to what extent Hirst, who is known as an artist whose exhibitions and works have been protested by animal rights defenders, adopts the death theme as we gather information about his exhibitions.