Postcard From Nucleohistone
Unsigned Print

Postcard From Nucleohistone, produced by Damien Hirst in 2012, takes influence from other works in the Spots collection. The work presents, as is typically recognisible of Hirst, a series of spots in a grid-like pattern. They range in colour from yellow, orange, blue, green, black, and brown. There is no coherent pattern in the application of colour for the perfectly round spots. Though this work was produced later than most of Hirst’s Spots collection, it exhibits a shared visual interest. The Spots paintings had stretched back as far as 1986. Therefore, this may be viewed as a later exploration of a theme that continued to interest Hirst over four decades.

One work that this might be compared to is Hirst’s Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD) print. Prodcued twelve years earlier, in 2000, this print similarly arranges spots on a white background which are arranged up to the edge of the print. However, the colours of Postcard From Nucleohistone appear more vibrant. Perhaps this was achieved through the lithographic technique that was used to produce this print edition. Alternatively, this could have been the result of conscious decision by Hirst regarding the visual effect that he sought.