Name: The Cure (battleship grey, fizzy orange, berry)
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 4.9 (174 reviews)

Meaning & Analysis

The Cure (battleship grey, fizzy orange, berry) is a silkscreen print by Damien Hirst on Somerset Tub. Produced in 2014, Hirst depicts a two-colour pill, rendered in bright and warm fizzy orange and berry against a pale battleship grey backdrop. The vibrant colours of the pill burst out of the print as they contrast with the plain background colour. Hirst’s use of the screen printing technique and bold colours is influenced by the Pop Art aesthetic developed by the pioneering American artist Andy Warhol in the 1960s.

read more about The Cure

The Cure (battleship grey, fizzy orange, berry) is part of Hirst’s The Cure series. This series, composed of thirty prints, is inspired by the marvels of modern medicine and the power of the pharmaceutical industry. Each print in the series depicts a single two-colour pill, however each colour combination is unique, meaning no print is identical. The minimalist aesthetic of the pill represents the confidence of the pharmaceutical company in their power to cure everyone and anything. This is an aesthetic theme that Hirst developed later on in his career in 2017 in the Eat the Rich series.

The Cure represents Hirst’s interest in medicine and the significant role it plays in our society. Hirst was very interested in exploring contemporary belief systems, and alongside an exploration of medicine, his works also look at systems such as religion, love and art.