Nothing Matters/ The Empty Chair (2008) by Damien Hirst, via White Cube
I feel like I’ve arrived somewhere…In a completely different way. I feel I’ve got the tools to navigate somewhere. All that expression- doubts, fears, everything- can come out in this arena. -Damien Hirst in conversation with Gorn Burn, 2009
Currently on view at the White Cube in London are nineteen new paintings by Damien Hirst. The new works are exhibited at the gallery’s Mason Yard and Hoxton Square locations. Previously criticized at the Wallace Collection this fall, since the opening of ‘Nothing Matters’ Hirst’s new oil paintings have been selling well. Tim Marlow, the exhibition’s director at White Cube, reported that even before the exhibition opened, five of the seven largest works sold with the most expensive going for £9.5 million or $15.7 milllion. Prices for the paintings began at £235,000.
More text, images and related links after the jump…
Three Green Skulls (2008) by Damien Hirst, via White Cube
The exhibition features a series of large-triptychs depicting objects such as skeletons, ashtrays, and medicine capsules linked together in such a way to create not only a composition but another perception of reality. Adrien Searle likens the disorder of the odd cigarette butts and stray butcher’s knives that appear in many of  the artist’s new paintings to works by Francis Bacon, who is often cited by Hirst to be a major inspiration for his work.
A Change in Fortune (2009) by Damien Hirst, via White Cube
At the White Cube Hoxton Square the artist presents a group of paintings which includes three triptychs from 2007-2009. Each depicts crows shot in mid-flight struggling to remain in blue skies. The birds are portrayed with their arms outstretched while violent red paint runs across their bodies symbolizing their impending death. The same crows reappear in the four triptychs on show in the lower ground floor at White Cube’s Mason Yard. They return as omens of bad news and are depicted next to ghost-like figures with skeletal forms and objects such as lemons, knives, wine glasses or a scorpion.
Portrait of a Man III (2009) by Damien Hirst, via White Cube
Born in 1965 in Bristol, England, Damien Hirst now lives and works in London and Devon. He has participated in numerous group and solo exhibitions at major international galleries and museums. In 1994 he received the DAAD fellowship in Berlin and in 1995 he won the Turner prize in London.
Exhibition Page [White Cube]
Damien Hirst’s New Exhibition Nothing Matters [The Guardian]
Damien Hirst: A Painter’s Progress [The Guardian]
Hirst Oils Earning Millions Despite Critic’s Thrashing [Artinfo]
-R.A.P.
