Considers various meanings of mortality

(Study of Damien Hirst)

This study considers various meanings of mortality and loss as represented in the artworks of Damien Hirst (1965-). Hirst came onto the British art scene in 1988 with Freeze, a groundbreaking exhibition that marked the rise of the Young British Artists. He has since become a celebrated contemporary artist in the UK for his conceptual and shocking pieces that show the two sides of death and life.

Very little, if any, academic research has yet been done on his works. All that has been done is research into Hirst’s life or formalistic analysis. The unconventionality of his productions has been treated only as a means of shocking the viewer. Without due attention to the meanings of death, the spotlight has been focused on the sensational aspects. Such fragmentary studies are inadequate to fully explain the significance of Hirst’s works in the history of art. Noting that death, the central theme of his artwork, has long been an important theme throughout the history of art, the author intends to give a comprehensive look at Hirst's productions.

As all humans are destined to die, death has always spurred mankind into ontological inquiry. It has been a source of inspiration for art for a long time, and many artists of each generation employed death as a theme. In the late 1980s, when Hirst started his career as an artist, British society was in a state of turmoil as a result of the bold reforms undertaken under Margaret Thatcher (1925-). Art institutions and young artists also faced difficulties because they could not receive government support.

It is in this context that death was viewed as a timely theme, despite the fact that it had long been a theme in all ages. By presenting death not as a fixed concept but as co-existence of conflicting values, Hirst won sympathy from his contemporaries, who had been experiencing a sense of loss at the turn of a century.

Through his works, Hirst objectified the life cycles of flies and butterflies, confronted the viewer with dead animals, and expressed the frailty of human life as a ball floating in the air. The works show life on the other side of death and death on the other side of life. Furthermore, he saw science, especially medical science, as the means of extending human life and compared it with religions that envision the world after death. His productions also described their limitations, giving mixed feelings of hope and despair.

Going a step further, Hirst even talked about the loss of originality of artists through the theme of 'death' by dismantling the concept of the artist as a subject that appropriates things. By addressing opposing factors in his works - such as instant and eternity, beauty and ugliness, religion and science, and original and copy - he reveals the dilemma of life and death, and this is his unique way of expanding room for interpretation. He was able to become a prominent member of the Young British Artists and a major artist of the time because he presented the universal theme of death in a contemporary way.

Ultimately, this study attempts to read various meanings of death, and loss as an extended meaning of death, that predominate works by Hirst and add new values to his productions, which have been underappreciated in the art world. The study is also relevant in that it attempts a comprehensive review of his entire body of artwork for the first time. The study is expected to spur discussion that looks at works of Hirst from different perspectives and to give the artist further inspiration for his future works.