Damien HirstButterfly Spin Painting, 2009 acrylic paint on paper painting by Damien Hirst2009
2009
About the Item
Damien Hirst (1965) Butterfly Spin Painting (2009) acrylic and metallic paint on paper 21 h × 27 w in (53 × 69 cm) Signed and stamped with Damien Hirst's studio's blindstamp; stamped with the artist's signature and copyright, dated 2009 on the reverse. Executed in 2009, this work was made on the occasion of Damien Hirst's exhibition, Requiem, held at the Pinchuk Art Centre, Kiev in April 2009.
PROVENANCE
Private Collection Japan
New Art Auction, Tokyo, Japan
Acquired from the above
This work belongs to Damien Hirst’s celebrated Butterfly Spin Paintings, created during his exhibition Requiem in Kiev in 2009. In these works, Hirst revisits the butterfly — one of his most enduring emblems — through the lens of his spin technique, merging symbolism with performative process.
For Hirst, the butterfly embodies the paradox of life’s brevity and beauty. Its association with metamorphosis, resurrection, and the soul resonates with the artist’s broader engagement with themes of mortality and faith. Here, however, the butterfly form is generated by centrifugal sweeps of color, as paint is propelled across the surface in vibrant arcs. This interplay of mechanical chance and precise design underscores Hirst’s fascination with systems that balance control and accident.
The resulting image is both radiant and ephemeral: a kaleidoscopic burst of pigment contained within the delicate outline of wings. In contrast to Hirst’s earlier use of real butterflies, the spin-painted form heightens the sense of transformation, as if the creature has been reborn through pure energy and color. The work ultimately reflects Hirst’s ongoing exploration of how art can reconcile the beauty of existence with the inevitability of its impermanence.
- Creator:Damien Hirst (1965, British)
- Creation Year:2009
- Dimensions:Height: 21 in (53.34 cm)Width: 27 in (68.58 cm)
- Medium:
- Period:
- Framing:Framing Options Available
- Condition:In very good condition. Some minor scuffs, visible under close inspection. A few pinholes and soiling on the reverse, as issued.
- Gallery Location:Hong Kong, HK
- Reference Number:Seller: DH-0091stDibs: LU1545217294782
Damien Hirst
British artist Damien Hirst is widely considered the enfant terrible of contemporary art. He is the most prominent of the so-called Young British Artists, or YBAs, a group, largely composed of Hirst’s classmates at Goldsmiths, in London, that began exhibiting together in warehouses and factories after 1988 and is known for the use of unconventional materials and “shock tactics” in his paintings, prints, sculptures and other works.
In the 1990s, Hirst said, “I can’t wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it.” And indeed, he is notorious for piquing critics and baffling the public with such pieces as his signature glass vitrines containing dead sheep or sharks in formaldehyde, and his diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God.
Working primarily in sculpture, Hirst takes after French modernist master Marcel Duchamp in his use of ready-made objects and materials, which he combines to ironic effect. He often creates in series, as with "The Cure (Violet)" and "The Cure (Turquoise)," both from 2014, which are among several pill paintings referencing Andy Warhol’s embrace of mass production.
Belonging to Hirst's ongoing series of “spot” paintings, begun in the 1980s, the 2005 piece Xylene Cyanol Dye Solution is striking for its machinelike, industrial uniformity and almost childlike simplicity, a seeming rebuke to the idea of the artist-as-genius.
In addition to making art, Hirst has launched stores that sell editioned works (Other Criteria), a restaurant (Pharmacy2) and even his own London museum (Newport Street Gallery).
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