The Cure (cream, aubergine, pea green)
The Cure (cream, aubergine, pea green)
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
POA
This estimate blends recent public auction records with our own private sale data and network demand.
Screenprint, 2014
Signed Print Edition of 15
H 72cm x W 51cm
Critical Review
The Cure (cream, aubergine, pea green) is a silkscreen print by Damien Hirst on Somerset Tub. Hirst produced this print in 2014 and in it, the artist depicts a large two-colour pill. Assuming the centre of the composition, the pill, which is rendered in a dark aubergine and bright pea green, stands out against the simple and plain coloured cream backdrop. On the top half of the pill, Hirst writes ‘this end up’ in faded, capitalised letters, accompanied by an arrow pointing upwards.
The Cure (cream, aubergine, pea green) is part of the cure series which is composed of thirty silkscreen prints. Each print depicts a pill rendered in a combination of two colours. In some of the prints, the pill is rendered in different tones of the same colour, whereas in others, the colours clash with one another or the print’s backdrop. The series is based on the minimalist aesthetic of the medicinal pill which, despite its simple appearance, behaves in an extremely complex and ingenious way. The simple design of pharmaceutical products reflects the confidence of the pharmaceutical industry and their ability to cure and health everyone and anything.
The Cure (cream, aubergine, pea green) and the wider series reflects Hirst’s fascination with modern society’s obsession with science, modern medicine and the pharmaceutical industry. By making a pharmaceutical product into art, Hirst blurs the boundaries between art and science in this print, demanding that we appreciate the art behind science.
