Damien Hirst

MCA Denver's presentation of work by Damien Hirst included four works by the prolific British artist. Saint Sebastian, Exquisite Pain, the central work in this exhibition, is part of Hirst's Natural History series and contains a steer that is pierced by dozens of arrows and cable-tied to a steel post. The work is over 10 feet tall and weighs nearly 8 tons (15,873 pounds). This brutal yet noble interpretation of the saint’s martyrdom reflects Hirst’s concern with the Western tradition of Christian iconography, as well as his interest in the inevitability of death and decay through failures in science and medicine. The two Butterfly paintings that were displayed, one shown for the first time in this US exhibition, offer a sense of beauty, vulnerability, and tragedy. A medicine cabinet sculpture completes the exhibition, connecting animals and humans to science, alluding to the process of creating pharmaceuticals, which is often done using a combination of synthetic and organic materials.

Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol, United Kingdom. He lives and works in London and Devon, United Kingdon. He received a BA in Fine Art from Goldsmiths College, London, during which he conceived and curated Freeze - a group exhibition commonly acknowledged having been the launching point for the Young British Artist group. Hirst has had over 80 solo exhibitions and has been included in over 260 group exhibitions across the globe. In 1995, he was the recipient of the prestigious Turner Prize.