No one has ever accused Damien Hirst of being conventional. In 1992, he showed "Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" in the Young British Artists exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery. What was the "Physical Impossibility" you ask? A tiger shark in a glass of formaldehyde.
Hirst's cover for the 150th anniversary edition of On the Origin of Species to be published by Penguin Classics on Darwin's 200th birthday (12 February 2009) is pictured above, and it's sure to raise eyebrows. What does the skull with a dagger pointing at its neck mean?1 Well, here's what Hirst has to say:
The painting sits firmly in the tradition of "still life" and is made up of objects I've come to imbue with my own meanings, some of them Darwinian in origin, and that I guess are seen in other areas of my work. The painting has an X-ray-like quality to it, as if it is revealing something about the structure of the objects painted.
I suppose the work, in a modest way, acknowledges Darwin's analytical mind and his courage to believe in those ideas that questioned the very fabric of existence and belief in his time (from The Guardian).
Hat tip: Origins.
1If you had any doubts before, now you know I'm a scientist and not an artist. I'm sure an artist would tell me that my question doesn't make any sense and that the painting doesn't "mean" anything. Either that, or they'd say what Damien said.
1If you had any doubts before, now you know I'm a scientist and not an artist. I'm sure an artist would tell me that my question doesn't make any sense and that the painting doesn't "mean" anything. Either that, or they'd say what Damien said.
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