Bad News
2009
Oil on canvas, triptych
230 x 154 cm (90 9/16 x 60 5/8 in.)
In each of the three large-format paintings, a bloody black raven flaps about, splattering the bluish-grey dotted surface with red. Wounded or just stubborn, it struggles within the frame of the canvas without managing to escape from a grid - a broken window? - which recalls some of Francis Bacon's works.
In the early 2000s Damien Hirst returned to painting. His large paintings open a contemplative window on death in a mixture of celebration and fear. By freezing the moment of the last breath - such as that of the crow in Bad News - he creates a rare intimacy with death, which paradoxically allows us to celebrate life.
Hirst's triptych Bad News was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the "Agony and Ecstasy" exhibition at Songeun Artspace in Seoul (2011).
In the early 2000s Damien Hirst returned to painting. His large paintings open a contemplative window on death in a mixture of celebration and fear. By freezing the moment of the last breath - such as that of the crow in Bad News - he creates a rare intimacy with death, which paradoxically allows us to celebrate life.
Hirst's triptych Bad News was presented for the first time by the Pinault Collection at the "Agony and Ecstasy" exhibition at Songeun Artspace in Seoul (2011).
Exhibitions
© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, Adagp, Paris.
Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates.
