Damien Hirst: 'Art Is About Life — Death Is Part of It'
Creatrip Team
3 months ago
Controversial British artist Damien Hirst opened his first large-scale solo show in Asia at the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art in Seoul, displaying over 50 works spanning 40 years, from early shock pieces to recent unfinished paintings. Known for works featuring preserved animals, diamond-encrusted skulls and butterfly stained-glass, Hirst insisted in a March interview that his art is about life and that death is only part of it. The exhibition recreates his London studio (River Studio) and even shows his ongoing 'River Paintings' to encourage young Korean visitors by revealing the artists’ process. He addressed controversies, explaining the partial sale of his platinum-and-diamond piece "For the Love of God" as a sale of shares rather than a full transfer, and defended the public museum hosting a commercially successful international artist by saying art reveals needs people didn’t know they had. Hirst reflected on his career from the YBA (Young British Artists) era to winning the Turner Prize and said he hopes to be remembered, though the generation that will decide that has yet to be born.
