Cinchonidine
Cinchonidine
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
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115 x 113cm, Edition of 145, Aquatint
Meaning & Analysis
Cinchonidine is an etching from 2004 by Damien Hirst. The print shows many spots in various shades of blue and grey, arranged methodically into a perfect circle. Hirst’s spot paintings and prints are amongst the artist’s most widely recognised works of his career.
Stretching as far back as 1986, the spot paintings thematically recur throughout Hirst’s career in a number of artistic mediums and were first displayed at the landmark group show Freeze in London’s Docklands. This print is markedly different from Hirst’s more famous spot paintings, notably in the use of a limited colour palette of blues and greys and in its circular rather than squared composition.
The title of this print, along with many of the other spot paintings and prints, are based on names of chemical compounds, and indicate Hirst’s interest in investigating boundaries between science, aesthetics, medicine and art. The colourful spots are set in equal distance from one another in a formulaic composition. The white clinical backdrop of the print recalls a laboratory and its kit, alluding to the crispness of coats, benches and hospital walls. Moreover, in its depiction of many spots, this print appears like a packet of medical pills.