Crash
Signed Print

Crash is one of twelve prints that form Hirst’s Eat the Rich series. In this series, the artist appropriates the design of pharmaceutical products and substitutes the product names with his own fictional ones. The design of the packaging in Crash is moreunconventional and less simple that the other prints in the Eat the Rich series, such as Riot or Violence. While white dominates the print, splashes of blue, green and red liven up the composition, injecting the design with bursts of colour. A strip of green runs down the right side of the print, contrasting with the white backdrop.

Hirst takes modern medicine as his inspiration for Crash and the Eat the Rich series. In doing so, the artist blurs the boundaries between science and art, challenging their strict opposition, and implying that science too can become art. Hirst has had a long-standing interest in medicine, frequently using it as inspiration for his artworks. In the 1980s, Hirst created an installation of medicine cabinets filled with his grandmother’s old medicine packets. The Eat the Rich series follows well from this early experimentation with the medical theme that Hirst pursued while still studying Fine Art at Goldsmiths College in London.