The Cure (papal purple, burgundy, blood orange) i
The Cure (papal purple, burgundy, blood orange) i
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
Screenprint, 2014
Signed Print Edition of 15
H 72cm x W 51cm
Critical Review
The Cure (papal purple, burgundy, blood orange) is a silkscreen print by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. Produced in 2014 and printed on Somerset Tub, the print shows a two-colour pill, rendered by Hirst in burgundy and bloody orange. The dark colours of the pill are complemented by a deep papal purple. The colours in this print are darker and warmer than many of the other prints in the series which privilege cool blues and greens.
The Cure (papal purple, burgundy, blood orange) is one of thirty silkscreen prints that compose Hirst’s The Cure series. In this series, Hirst renders a singular pill in a combination of two colour tones against a bold and vibrant coloured backdrop. The series is based on the minimalist aesthetic of the medicinal pill which has fascinated Hirst due to the way in which the simple design reflects the confidence of the pharmaceutical industry and their ability to cure everyone and everything with their pharmaceutical products. The manipulation of scale in the print, with the pill appearing to be extremely large, is another technique employed by Hirst to represent the confidence of pharmaceutical companies.
The bold and vibrant colours used in The Cure (papal purple, burgundy, blood orange) resonate with the Pop Art aesthetic popularised by Andy Warhol in the 1960s.Warhol was known for elevating everyday objects and turning them into works of art. Hirst does something similar with this series. 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.
