DAMIEN HIRST – FORGOTTEN PROMISES
2011-01-10In recent years, Hirst has developed his familiar iconography – the skull, the diamond and the butterfly – to explore fundamental ideas about existence. His work highlights the duality that lies at the heart of human experience, from our inexorable struggles between life and death, beauty and decay, desire and fear, love and loss.
The exhibition also includes a series of brilliant diamond cabinets. Forgotten Sorrows, Lost Friends, and Tears of Joy (all 2010) seem optimistic, yet their titles suggest more contemplative notions of memory, melancholy, and loss. A group of paintings (2008-2009) including Age of Magnificence and Fading Magnificence have real butterflies entombed in layers of shiny metallic paint.
Opposite – Cupid’s Lie, 2008, Gold
Exhibition runs from January 18th to March 19th, 2011
Gagosian Gallery
12 Pedder Street, 7/F
Central
Hong Kong B
