Daydreams Blossom; Oil on card, mounted on birch ply frames, with canvas webbing around the edges; Titled Daydreams Blossom, signed Damien Hirst, and dated 2021 in oil paint by the artist verso; Allocated by HENI Primary, London UK (PB462, 2021); Size - 24 1/2 x 16 1/2", Frame 24 1/4 x 17 1/2"; Framed in an acrylic box.
"I want them to make you feel good, feel happy, I want you to get lost in them. And I want them to feel like summer, I want you to forget your troubles if you have any, for a moment and enjoy the idea of flowers, of sunlight and of cherry blossoms and I want you to love the chaos and celebration of the splattered paint. Is that wrong for me to want that? Does that make me a hippy?" - Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst (b. 1965) is an English artist and art collector that was part of the YBAs (Young British Artists) that dominated the UK art scene of the 1990's. During this time he was linked to art collector Charles Saatchi, who acquired early works by Hirst and was an advocate of his work. Death is a central theme in Hirst's works with his most famous artistic series being dead animals (shark, sheep, cow, etc) sometimes dissected, and preserved in glass vitrines of formaldehyde. The most famous of the series is "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," is a 14-foot tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde suspended in a clear glass display case. Hirst deals with the complex relationships between art, beauty, science, religion, life and death. He has also created "Spin Paintings" by adding paint onto a spinning circular surface, and "Spot Paintings" which are rows of random colored circles painted by assistants.
In September 2008, Damien Hirst was able to sell a complete show entitled "Beautiful Inside my Head Forever" at Sotheby's auction; thus making the unprecedented move of bypassing his long standing galleries. The auction netted $198 million, breaking the record for a single artist auction as well as breaking the auction record for Damien Hirst when "The Golden Calf," a calf with 18-carat gold horns and hooves preserved in formaldehyde, sold for $18.4 million. In 2020 Hirst is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist with his wealth estimated at $384 million.
In 2018 Damien Hirst created a series of large scale painting of "Cherry Blossoms," and in 2021 he opted for a more intimate scale for the "Paper Blossoms" series. With "Paper Blossoms" the cropping of the cherry blossoms picture became more focused, bringing the viewer to a more focused state of observation and exploration. The series is composed of 900 oil paintings on card of cherry blossoms, mounted on birch ply frames, with canvas webbing around the edges. Each is signed, dated, and titled by Hirst on the verso. The 900 paintings are composed of 300 large paintings measuring 84.2 x 59.6 cm and 600 paintings measuring 59.6 x 42.1 cm.
The next two paragraphs are from the HENI Primary website about the Damien Hirst Paper Blossoms:
"Arranged side-by-side across long tables in his studio, Hirst worked on several Paper Blossoms at a time, moving up and down the tables as he built up layers of thick, tactile paint. This process recalls the creation of his monumental Cherry Blossoms paintings: "I was getting lost in painting and wanted viewers to get lost in my paintings," he stated.
What results from this energetic practice are glimpses of the cherry blossom trees, views of their sprawling branches and gravity-defying blossoms. This intentional and careful use of framing to create more intimate experiences for viewers has long been part of Hirst's practice, stretching back to his infamous formaldehyde sculptures. As the artist said, "I just wanted it to be in your face. I want you to feel like you're too close to it, you know. All the work I've made - you know, the sharks, everything, all that sort of stuff - I want it to be aggressive and in your face. I want you to have a physical reaction to it.""
In order to paint the 'Paper Blossoms," Damien Hirst arranged long tables end to end, simultaneously worked on multiple pieces, and applied thick textured paint in layers in order to bring the pieces to life. "Daydreams Blossom" is an exceptional work and one of the best paintings from the series. The image is beautifully rendered in thick strokes, dots, and splashes of oil paint that creates a field of explosive color. The blossoms and leaves are dynamic and create a push pull effect against the blue sky and brown tree branches. This is an absolutely fantastic unique work by Damien Hirst and would be a standout of any art collection!
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