Name: Two Parrots (small)
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 4.9 (183 reviews)

Meaning & Analysis

Two Parrots (small) is a signed lithograph print produced by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. The print depicts two parrots behind a vitrine. The birds are rendered in bright colours, with splashes of bold orange on their bodies. The print captures Hirst’s excellent draughtsmanship, demonstrating how the artist excels at drawing, as well as sculpture and producing innovative installations.

The print, made in 2012, was created to celebrate the occasion of Hirst’s exhibition, Two Weeks One Summer, which was on display at the White Cube Bermondsey in 2012. The inclusion of the vitrine which surrounds the birds is characteristic of Hirst’s other artistic pursuits. The artist is famous for incorporating cage-like structures into his artworks. The earliest example of Hirst’s use of vitrines is his work, A Thousand Years, made in 1990. The piece was composed of a pair of interlinked glass cells which hosted a colony of flies that were feeding off a rotting cow’s head.

Hirst’s use of vitrines and glass cells to contain and present objects resonates with the glass and plexiglass cases protecting and elevating ordinary consumer objects to the status of high art in works made by American Pop artist Jeff Koons during the 1980s.