New Beginnings 5
New Beginnings 5
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
Block print, 2011
Signed Print Edition of 55
H 66cm x W 49cm
Critical Review
This beautiful block print is one of six from Damien Hirst’s New Beginnings series from 2011, titled New Beginnings 5. Showing a butterfly in the centre of the composition with its royal blue wings outspread, this print is dominated by its baby pink backdrop. Hirst produces a highly aesthetic image through this complimentary colour combination of the blue butterfly against solid pink colour.
Hirst’s intuitive colour choice is based on aesthetic and non-rational demands that have remained in his practice since his art training at Goldsmiths. Hirst’s use of the naturalistic butterfly motif alongside an intuitive choice of colour is representative of the artist’s desire to dissolve the boundaries between art, science and popular culture.
Much of Hirst’s work seeks to explore the uncertainties at the core of human experience: love, life, death, loyalty and betrayal through unconventional media. The motif of the butterfly functions as a ‘universal trigger’ throughout Hirst’s artistic oeuvre that allows him to explore such themes through his striking and unique visual language. Speaking of his obsession with butterflies Hirst has explained, “I think rather than be personal you have to find universal triggers: everyone’s frightened of glass, everyone’s frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.”
