Controlled Substances Key painting 3" Spot

"Hirst's 'spot paintings' look...like the raw materials for new art, almost as though, if you could only step back far enough, they would resolve themselves into some unspecifiable order. This work, while it offers no pocketable solutions, looks on our perpetual metaphysical frustration as a sign of life, rather than a condensation of futility. In this way, it re-introduces into the artistic vocabulary emotions long banished as being in some way embarrasing; curiosity and awe." (C. Hall, "Damien Hirst", London 1991, p.7.)