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Damien Hirst – Psalm: Benedicam Domino
Damien Hirst, Psalm: Benedicam Domino is a silkscreen print. This print is signed and numbered on the front by the artist.
Psalm paintings are crafted from just two things: ordinary household paint and butterfly wings. The result is a series totalling 150 works, all marvellous and wholly hypnotic, kaleidoscopic geometry resembling Gothic stained glass windows. Damien Hirst named them after psalms from the Old Testament.
Hirst began using butterflies in his work as early as 1989. Describing the insect as a ‘universal trigger’, he has explained: “Everyone’s frightened of glass, everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.” The ‘Psalms’ form part of the ‘Kaleidoscope’ series, conceived by the artist in 2001 after he found a Victorian tea tray decorated with intricate patterns of butterfly wings. The works reference the spiritual symbolism of the butterfly, used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection. The perfect symmetry which characterises the ‘Psalms’ alludes to both the displays of light, colour and beauty as presented in Gothic stained glass windows, and the circular patterns of Buddhist mandalas. The paintings, which are rendered on uniformly-sized circular, square or diamond-shaped canvases, might variously be interpreted as explorations into the nature of beauty, religion, death and the fragility of life.
| Title | Psalm: Benedicam Domino |
|---|---|
| Medium | Silkscreen |
| Year | 2015 |
| Signature | Signed, numbered |
| Edition | 25 |
| Size | 18 x 18 (in) 46 x 46 (cm) |
| Price | SOLD |
Category: Damien Hirst
Description
Damien Hirst, Psalm: Benedicam Domino is a silkscreen print. This print is signed and numbered on the front by the artist.
Psalm paintings are crafted from just two things: ordinary household paint and butterfly wings. The result is a series totalling 150 works, all marvellous and wholly hypnotic, kaleidoscopic geometry resembling Gothic stained glass windows. Damien Hirst named them after psalms from the Old Testament.
Hirst began using butterflies in his work as early as 1989. Describing the insect as a ‘universal trigger’, he has explained: “Everyone’s frightened of glass, everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.” The ‘Psalms’ form part of the ‘Kaleidoscope’ series, conceived by the artist in 2001 after he found a Victorian tea tray decorated with intricate patterns of butterfly wings. The works reference the spiritual symbolism of the butterfly, used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection. The perfect symmetry which characterises the ‘Psalms’ alludes to both the displays of light, colour and beauty as presented in Gothic stained glass windows, and the circular patterns of Buddhist mandalas. The paintings, which are rendered on uniformly-sized circular, square or diamond-shaped canvases, might variously be interpreted as explorations into the nature of beauty, religion, death and the fragility of life.
In April 2003, the Saatchi Gallery opened a Damien Hirst retrospective, bringing a developing strain in Saatchi’s relationship with Hirst to a head. Damien Hirst disassociated himself from the retrospective, angered that a Mini car that Hirst had decorated with the Hirst trademark spots for charity was being exhibited as a serious work of art. Damien Hirst bought back 12 works of art from Saatchi for a total of £8 million. Damien Hirst had sold these pieces to Saatchi in the early 1990s for a considerably smaller sum. Despite Hirst’s insults to Saatchi, Saatchi remains a staunch supporter, labeling Hirst a genius.
Damien Hirst Psalm: Benedicam Domino
Damien Hirst Art for Sale
Psalm prints by Damien Hirst
Additional information
| Title | Psalm: Benedicam Domino |
|---|---|
| Medium | Silkscreen |
| Year | 2015 |
| Signature | Signed, numbered |
| Edition | 25 |
| Size | 18 x 18 (in) 46 x 46 (cm) |
| Price | SOLD |
