DAMIEN HIRST INTERVIEW. Interviewed for Oryx Premium by Karen Martin

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1 DAMIEN HIRST In the 25 years since he conceived and curated the seminal exhibition Freeze, Damien Hirst has become the most prominent British artist of his generation. Interviewed for Oryx Premium by Karen Martin Damien Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 with Freeze, an exhibition of his work and that of his friends and fellow Goldsmiths College students staged in a disused London warehouse. This month, Relics, his first solo exhibition in the Middle East, opens at ALRIWAQ DOHA exhibition space, showcasing the largest collection of his works ever assembled. A relic is something important from the past, an ancient artefact that speaks to you of its history, says Hirst. The Doha exhibition brings together many of my most important pieces from the past 27 years. It s almost like a map of my life as an artist, and the title is significant because I ve only recently reached a point where I can look back at my earlier works and see them within the context of the past. The exhibition, presented by Qatar Museums Authority as part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture, includes Hirst s most recognisable works, including the spot paintings, the series of animals preserved in formaldehyde, and the diamond skull: For the Love of God (2007). The diamond skull For the Love of God still amazes and excites me every time I see it, says Hirst. There is definitely a sense in which I still don t really understand it. Sometimes you can imagine it was an object that could only have been made by royalty centuries ago, so I have these sort of enigmatic thoughts about what it means today, he adds. In 2008 I made another one, cast from an infant s skull that dates from the 19 th century. It s called For Heaven s Sake, and incorporates over 7,000 pink diamonds with another 1,023 white diamonds on the fontanel. The two skulls are going to be shown together for the first time in Relics, and I can t wait to see them displayed as a pair. HIRST IN QATAR Curated by the internationally renowned writer, critic, and curator, Francesco Bonami, Relics is part of a series of cultural initiatives organised by QMA in order to foster discussions and cultural exchange between the UK and Qatar. It forms part of Qatar UK 2013 Year of Culture which celebrates and showcases the deep-rooted bilateral relations between Qatar and the UK. Damien Hirst Believer (2008) (detail) Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS

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3 Hirst points to the importance of colour to his work, most obviously with the spot paintings. When I was a student I had real problems with colour until I eventually landed on the spot paintings as a means of pinning it down, he says. I still get a complete sense of joy from the spots; no two colours are ever repeated in a painting and the result is just unfailingly happy. Though not a colour, transparency is another important element in much of his work. Two of my favourite materials are glass and water, says Hirst. They re particularly important in the Natural History series, and my vitrine works. For me, water means death and there s something about glass, which you can see through despite its solidity, which implies the fragility of our existence. Hirst s work bears testimony to his enduring fascination with the daily intrusion of death into life, and the inevitable decay of our bodies despite an increasingly unquestioning faith in pharmaceuticals. Often framing scenes within boxes, tanks, or vitrines, he stages startling and thought-provoking situations in which life cycles play out, life wrestles with death, and cures become confused with illnesses. An important moment for me was going to Leeds anatomy school and seeing dead bodies there when I was a teenager, explains Hirst. I had wanted to know about death, but when I first saw the corpses I felt sick and it was completely awful. But I went back again and continued to draw and study them. And the point where death starts and life stops, for me, in my mind was there. Once I d seen them and I d dealt with them for a while, death felt as though it had been moved a little further away. It was a crucial moment. His dedication to exploring the complex relationship between art, love, life, and death has been not only a critical success but a financial one, and in 2008 he took the unprecedented step of bypassing gallery involvement in selling 244 new works at Sotheby s auction house in London, describing the sale as a means of democratising the art market. Damien Hirst Calciferol (1996) Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS

4 THE DIAMOND SKULL FOR THE LOVE OF GOD 2007 STILL AMAZES AND EXCITES ME EVERY TIME I SEE IT. THERE IS DEFINITELY A SENSE IN WHICH I STILL DON T REALLY UNDERSTAND IT. Damien Hirst For the Love of God (2007) Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS

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6 ì THE INCENTIVE TO ë WOWí, TO BLOW PEOPLEë S MINDS, TO GET A HOLD OF THEM USING THE POWER OF ART IS NOTHING TO DO WITH FINANCIAL SUCCESS. FOR ME, ART HAS ALWAYS BEEN ABOUT HAVING AN IMPACT.î Damien Hirst The Immortal ( ) Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS London 2012 Olympic Games A specially commissioned work by Hirst was included as part of the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympic Games. The largest reproduction of a Hirst piece ever produced, the colossal 130-metre-wide red, white, and blue Union Jack spin painting covered the entirety of the stadium floor. It was fantastic to be asked to be part of the Olympics Closing Ceremony (London 2012) and great to see my work on that scale. But Rembrandt can make an etching that is only 1 square inch and it can have a similar impact, he says. I like playing with the idea of scale as an artistic approach, like massively exaggerating a toy anatomical model, as I did with Hymn (2000). One of my largest recent projects is Verity ( ): a bronze sculpture that stands over 20 metres tall and weighs 25 tonnes. Damien Hirst, photographed by Billie Scheepers Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS

7 The incentive to wow, to blow people's minds, to get a hold of them using the power of art is nothing to do with financial success, he says. For me, art has always been about having an impact. When I was a kid I remember visiting natural history museums and just being blown away by what I saw in there and I just thought, Why can t art be like that? It s the immediate visual impression that I ve always strived for in my work. But obviously financial success gives you more freedom as an artist to realise projects that might not otherwise be possible, he concedes. It has allowed me to make incredible works on the scale of the diamond skulls. In order to cast For the Love of God, I had to source and pay for 8,601 perfect diamonds. Ultimately it was a means of concentrating the wealth that I had made, and putting it back into art, but it is also about exploring the strange concept of value. No one can really convince us with any authority that diamonds actually have this unbelievably valuable inherent worth, rather than just being a bit of pleasant sparkly glass with accumulated metaphorical significance. I love that point of tension. Relics is on view from October 10, 2013 until January 22, 2014 at ALRIWAQ DOHA exhibition space. The exhibition spans over 27 years of Hirst s artistic career, and includes both iconic and previously unseen works. FLIGHT FREQUENCY Qatar airways flies to more than 130 business and leisure destinations worldwide. 34

8 Damien Hirst Mother and Child (Divided), Exhibition Copy 2007 (original 1993) (2007) Photography Tate, London 2013 Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS

9 Upcoming exhibitions from Qatar Museums Authority 1. Adel Abdessemed: L âge d or Oct 5, 2013 Jan 5, 2014 Mathaf Described by himself as an artist of acts, Abdessemed transforms well-known materials and imagery into charged artistic declarations known for their forceful impact and symbolic resonance. The Museum of Islamic Art, Qatar MIA JE Francesco Vezzoli: Museum of Crying Women Oct 7 Nov 30, 2013 QMA Gallery, Katara Referencing the most iconic female figures of the last century, the exhibition will re-read Francesco Vezzoli s body of work through a precise selection of his most striking portraits as part of a tribute to femininity Hajj: The Journey Through Art Oct 9, 2013 Jan 5, 2014 Museum of Islamic Art Celebrating and illuminating the holy pilgrimage of Hajj through the centuries, focusing on the routes taken by pilgrims, the rituals of Hajj as depicted through art, and the experiences of pilgrims after completion of Hajj. 4 Sheikh Abdullah Bin Jassim Exhibition Dec 16, 2013 Jan 25, 2014 QMA Gallery, Katara An exhibition exploring the era of Sheikh Abdullah. Featuring rare artefacts, historic photographs, and original films, the exhibit presents new insights into Sheikh Abdullah s life and legacy to Qatar s people. 36