Imagine, if you will, the following scene (sepia tint optional): a young student Damien Hirst gazing wide eyed at John Hoyland’s brilliantly colourful and zingy Rothko-like abstracts at Leeds Art Gallery. One day, he thinks, I will be as great a painter as he. Fast forward a couple of decades, and Hirst hasn’t proved himself […]
The Newport Street Gallery has opened their doors today (8th October), to the public in Vauxhall, south London. The gallery is the brainchild of the mega-rich YBA artist Damien Hirst who now has a permanent space to house and display his vast art collection. Once the bad boy of the contemporary art world, Hirst seems […]
Damien Hirst’s much anticipated new private museum opens on Tomorrow with a solo exhibition of works by John Hoyland (1934–2011) – one of Britain’s leading abstract painters – will inaugurate Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery, which opens in Vauxhall, south London on 8th October 2015. The Newport Street Gallery is a free, not for profit arts center developed at a personal […]
Conceived by Damien Hirst and curated by Ordovas, ‘The Big Blue’ explores some of the ways in which the sea influences art, by looking at works that span many centuries from Roman times until today. Our intention is to offer an original and penetrating glimpse into a universal theme. “After the fascinating experience of working […]
Brian Sewell, the notorious British art critic, was a showman. He knew exactly how to play the part of critic. Stimulating, extreme in opinion, and extremely amusing. Sewell revelled in his own eccentricity, sharing his often outrageous opinions in the belief that others wished to do so but were lacking in honesty. He also believed […]
Regular readers will know of the special reserve of bile I harbour for one Damien Hirst: the businessman peddling ‘art’ in a beyond-cynical way that would make Warhol choke on or at the very least regurgitate a little his oft quoted adage “good business is the best art”. It’s most worrying that the innumerable people […]
In light of the recent and stunning images of Pluto taken by New Horizons’ Long Range Reconnaissance Imager from a distance of 280,000 miles, we are reminded that the galaxy is a visually stunning place, but also a place where – in fact – art already exists, not only on our planet – but now […]
This summer Jerwood Gallery presents British artist, Rachel Howard, for her largest solo public gallery exhibition in the UK. The artist was Damien Hirst’s first spot painter, in the 1990s, she was Hirst’s first assistant, today the artist juggles a life as a sheep farmer, mother of four and generally declines interviews. But the artist […]
OK, so admittedly Damien Hirst is still very much with us… But what can you say about an artist’s life’s work when they have died penniless and relatively unknown? The best way to answer is to reverse the question: why does it matter a damn that a collective of individuals have over a certain period encountered an […]
Damien Hirst’s Charity (2002-2003), a seven metres tall sculpture will be installed next to St. Helen’s Church and opposite the Gherkin in London’s Square Mile, as part of the 2015 edition of Sculpture in the City (launching 9 July). The monumental artwork is modelled on The Spastic’s Society (now national disability charity Scope) collection boxes from the 1960s. It opens a dialogue about disability and how […]
Damien Hirst’s Newport Street Gallery will open its inaugural exhibition with paintings by John Hoyland, who was – ironically – the British artist who objected to the Royal Academy’s 1997 Sensation exhibition of works by Young British Artists. The new show John Hoyland: Power Stations is due to open on 8 October (until 3 April […]
Morbid question one: if Damien Hirst fell into a vat of formaldehyde tomorrow, how would this affect the monetary value of his works? The ultimate art-businessman has, like most on Artlyst’s reel of richest artists, become so having found a brand-formula which happened to become recognised, sought-after, a sure-fire investment. Except the trouble with having […]
Sculpture in the City, the dynamic yearly public art exhibition in the City of London, returns this summer with a selection of contemporary art pieces placed in and around the Square Mile. Launching on the 9 July, the exhibition will include works from internationally renowned artists including Damien Hirst, Sigalit Landau, and Bruce Beasley. In […]
Does fine art still have political teeth? Remember, if you will, such historical examples as Delacroix’s ‘Victory Leading the People’, the cautionary tales of corruption by Hogarth, or the savage cartoons of James Gillray, to pluck from the vast array of politically charged fine art. Yet as a medium for change it has effectively died […]
Given the range of names appearing in Artlyst’s forged artists countdown, you would be forgiven for thinking that the measure of an artist who has finally ‘made it’ is one who has been copied, and copied by stealth and deceit for monetary gain. For the driving influence behind why forgeries are made exists outside the […]
Rembrandt, unlike Vermeer who made extraordinary universes out of small rooms in the provincial town of Delft, needed to leave his native Leiden for Amsterdam in order to drape his sitters in exotic costumes and enjoy the worldly benefits that his remarkable talent afforded him. Slowly, from clean, crisp portraits and history paintings, atmosphere crept […]
Damien Hirst’s company Science UK LTD, has placed an advert for photo-realist painters. The ad, posted on the Jobs section of the Guardian, lists the following requirements for any applicant: “Experience of working with oil paint necessary, good colour matching skills, and attention to detail are essential for this position. Candidates must have a BA […]
According to the daughter of Henry Moore – the artist who transformed the nature of British sculpture forever – Damien Hirst has set back art by 100 years. Mary Moore said her father had challenged the narrative and how art was formally-presented, which had dated back to the Victorian era. “What he did was come […]
Zabludowicz Collection is to present a new major exhibition featuring over 30 leading international artists, including eight Turner Prize winners, to celebrate 20 years of pioneering activity. Bringing together significant works, many never before seen in the UK, the exhibition reflects the attitude of bold experimentation that defines the Zabludowicz Collection. Founded in 1994 by […]
Every year for the past 18 years English photographer Johnnie Shand Kydd has photographed the art scene as they holiday on the Greek island of Hydra each summer, photographing artists, curators and writers who have been invited to vacation at the British art collector Pauline Karpidas’ holiday home on the Greek island of Hydra. The […]
In my best Sam the Eagle voice: “Sales is vanity, profit is sanity”. Splashed all over the art newspapers this week were the impressive sales figures of Christie’s Surrealism auction, where lots sold for a combined total of £147m, (Write it in full: £147,031,000.00 – oooh look how titillatingly long that is!), with Miró’s ‘Women, […]
Damien Hirst is celebrating Valentine’s Day in the form of a pop-up exhibition at Paul Stolper, presenting LOVE, an exhibition of prints and sculptural editions by the artist. The exhibition will run over Valentine’s Day, and focuses exclusively on the theme of love. The exhibition includes ‘LOVE Gold’, a portfolio of love-heart prints, each foil […]
When you think of Damien Hirst you usually think of rotting cows heads, sharks, skulls, dead flies, spots, and general principles of vanitas and death – you wouldn’t necessarily associate Britain’s richest artist, who is thought to be worth around £215 million, with the lovey-doviness of Valentine’s Day, as usually the only heart on display […]
Turner Contemporary presents the exhibition ‘Self’ which posits the question, in a world where ‘selfies’ have become everyday expressions and ‘Britishness’ is being redefined, what is the role of self-portraiture and how has it shifted through the history of art to the present day? The ‘selfie’ has become a frame through which self-portraiture is re-evaluated […]
Art Stage Singapore, the premier art fair in Southern Asia opened its fifth edition, on January 22 at the Marina Bay Sands Expo and Convention Centre. Featuring 145 galleries, 34 of which are Singapore-based, the fair has a strong foundation of Asia-based exhibitors, and states that it strives to bridge the various art epicentres across […]
Art history and science history combined today to create a genuine piece of human history. A spot painting created by ‘Young British Artist’ and one-time Enfant Terrible Damien Hirst made it into space in 2003 – a colour calibration chart destined for a scientific experiment – was a commissioned design, aboard the first British Mars […]
11 January 2015
Steve Lazarides, the former agent of the notorious Bristol street artist Banksy is to auction off a collection his private collection of 30 Banksy prints and two sculptures. The auction is to be auctioned as part of Founded 1793, the contemporary art auction at Bonhams New Bond Street taking place on 28 January 2015. amongst […]
Renowned artists including Takashi Murakami, Damien Hirst, Jeff Koons, Richard Serra and Shirin Neshat have donated works through the FC Barcelona Foundation to Reach Out To Asia (ROTA) and UNICEF. The ‘1 in 11’ campaign extends educational opportunities to marginalised children in Bangladesh, Indonesia and Nepal, with the goal of expanding to more countries. Hirst, […]
Tracey Emin is the latest artist to have her design for a Brit Award unveiled, ahead of the ceremony which takes place in February 2015. The artist chose to turn the statuette of Brittania pink and adorn it with her own spidery handwriting; which reads: ‘Congratulations on your talent on your life – On everything […]
Damien Hirst has unveiled his new series of paintings in Brazil, following his universally panned exhibitions at the Wallace Collection, where he showed a group of Francis Bacon inspired skull paintings and his 2012 exhibition of ‘Parrot Pictures’ at White Cube Bermondsey. For his latest painting exhibition, Hirst has created what he describes as ‘portraits […]
The neon artist and designer Chris Bracey has passed away in his sleep on Saturday, the artist had recently been diagnosed with prostate cancer. Bracey’s wife Linda said that she had lost “a wonderful husband”; and that she was ‘grateful for a long and loving marriage to a warm, talented, kind and funny man who […]
The warmest Halloween since UK records began is heating up and what better way to celebrate than to get a pumpkin and carve it! Here are a few artistic ideas to get inspired by. ‘For the Love of God’ is a platinum skull set with high grade diamonds. It is one of Damien Hirst’s most […]