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Lot Essay
Damien Hirst's systematic rows of randomly coloured spots, lacking depth or dimension, are deliberately intended to be aesthetically superficial. They are deceptively childlike in their simplicity, presenting the viewer with a fundamentally basic approach to painting - one that is first and foremost pleasing to the eye.
Hirst explains: "In the spot paintings the grid-like structure creates the beginning of a system; in each painting no two colours are the same. This ends the system. It's a simple system." (In: G. Burn and D. Hirst, 'Damien Hirst i want to spend the rest of my life everywhere, with everyone, one to one, always, forever, now', London 1997, p. 246.)
The arbitrary nature of the spots dispels any impending formula. "If you look closely at any one of these paintings a strange thing happens: because of the lack of repeated colours there is no harmony." (ibid.)
Although all Hirst's spot paintings are uniformly composed and closely related, each is unique due to the unpredictable arrangement of the colours used. 'Morphine Sulphate' is particularly distinctive due to its irregularly shaped canvas that adds to the sense of chance because it, too, is so unexpected. This alerts the viewer to a more sophisticated agenda, contradicting the initial impression of inevitability.
Hirst explains: "In the spot paintings the grid-like structure creates the beginning of a system; in each painting no two colours are the same. This ends the system. It's a simple system." (In: G. Burn and D. Hirst, 'Damien Hirst i want to spend the rest of my life everywhere, with everyone, one to one, always, forever, now', London 1997, p. 246.)
The arbitrary nature of the spots dispels any impending formula. "If you look closely at any one of these paintings a strange thing happens: because of the lack of repeated colours there is no harmony." (ibid.)
Although all Hirst's spot paintings are uniformly composed and closely related, each is unique due to the unpredictable arrangement of the colours used. 'Morphine Sulphate' is particularly distinctive due to its irregularly shaped canvas that adds to the sense of chance because it, too, is so unexpected. This alerts the viewer to a more sophisticated agenda, contradicting the initial impression of inevitability.