Colourful spots, animals frozen in time, glorious butterfly wings and a skull set with diamonds are just some icons of Damien Hirst’s boundary-redefining career. Internationally recognised for his irreverent approach to artmaking, blurring the lines between media and expanding their possibilities, Hirst has helped set contemporary art on a practically limitless course. Through a decisive interplay of technology, technique and material, Hirst’s artworks engage with his signature themes of love, death, religion, science, belief and beauty to create works that are both visually and conceptually compelling.

Hirst was born in 1965 in Bristol, grew up in Leeds and moved to London in 1984. While studying at Goldsmiths School of Art from 1986-89, Hirst invented two fundamental series: his ongoing ‘Spot Paintings’, made up of meticulously rendered spheres of random colours arranged in perfect grid systems; and his ‘Medicine Cabinets’, an early investigation into science, medicine and systems of belief and trust that resurfaces across his oeuvre.  

In 1992, Hirst unveiled arguably his most iconic work ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’ (1991), a four-metre-long tiger shark preserved in a tank of formaldehyde, and inserted his ‘Natural History’ series into the public consciousness. These sculptures simultaneously confront viewers with their own mortality and the unavoidable fate of death.

Hirst’s enduring confrontations with death emerge again in his butterfly works. Since his 1991 exhibition ‘In and Out of Love’, he has continued to readapt the butterfly motif. Hirst produces awe-inspiring compositions using their wings, as in his ‘Kaleidoscope’ series began in 2001, a formula that has entered a new chapter in the HENI prints series ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019), ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020) and ‘The Empresses’ (H10, 2022). In these collections, the technology and materiality of the prints advance the symbolic resonance of the butterfly, standing for the possibility of beauty in death. 

Since 1994, Hirst has produced his joyful ‘Spin Paintings’. These works are made with minimal artist intervention, the final product reliant only on colour choice and force of movement. These paintings inspired ‘Enter the Infinite’ (H1, 2016), 12 jacquard-woven tapestries that constitute further delegation of the artistic process to a machine. ‘The joy of colour’ and colour relationships are themes to which Hirst frequently returns, as in ‘Colour Charts’ (2012), ‘Colour Space’ (2016), ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) and their eponymous print series. 

In 2017, Hirst revealed ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’, which include hundreds of sculptures and drawings apparently salvaged from a shipwreck. This project foregrounded Hirst’s interest in belief systems, questioning structures that attract trust and value. Hirst’s 2021 project ‘The Currency’ further explores this idea, asking collectors to choose between the traditional medium of painting and the contemporary NFT, forcing them to put faith in where they see value. 

From 2018-20, Hirst produced ‘Cherry Blossoms’. The monumental canvases, entirely covered in dense, bright colours, envelop the viewer in a vast landscape of blooming trees that traverses the boundaries of figuration and abstraction. From these works, Hirst made his ‘Fruitful & Forever’ (H8, 2020) and ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) print series, playfully presenting macro and micro details of the paintings that bring their tactile impasto to the fore. 

Hirst’s name is synonymous with contemporary art, continually pushing the boundaries of traditional approaches to and conceptions of the artwork. Hirst’s prints, editions and multiples are a fundamental part of this practice. Though wide-ranging in nature, together these works are magnificent exercises in how technique, technology and materiality can be manipulated to enhance the discourse and reception of Hirst’s subjects. 

Damien Hirst

Colourful spots, animals frozen in time, glorious butterfly wings and a skull set with diamonds are just some icons of Damien Hirst’s boundary-redefining career. Internationally recognised for his irreverent approach to artmaking, blurring the lines between media and expanding their possibilities, Hirst has helped set contemporary art on a practically limitless course. Through a decisive interplay of technology, technique and material, Hirst’s artworks engage with his signature themes of love, death, religion, science, belief and beauty to create works that are both visually and conceptually compelling.

Damien Hirst’s ‘Enter the Infinite – Revelation' is a transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful tapestry produced after a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008. The original’s aesthetic of randomness is accompanied in the present tapestry by mathematical intervention, precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the action to create a visually arresting work.  

Hirst’s tapestry takes the eye on an uneasy journey in and out of the work’s centre. Exploding from its centre is a vertical ‘X’ shape with bulbous forms emerging from its horizontal axis. Rippling in blues, reds, yellows and greens, the eye attempts to follow the patterns of colours but cannot contain the shifting perspectives of inward and outward motion, constituting a reflection on the limits and functions of the human eye.  

This effect is further emphasised through its medium, as the tapestry is produced using a small selection of booming colours which the eye optically blends as it navigates its way through the composition’s intense motion. Such action is recollective of the spinning technology used to produce the original painting and indeed the mechanised process of jacquard-weaving. As a result, ‘Enter the Infinite – Revelation’ is apparently caught in the dynamic motion of the ‘Spin Painting’, expanded and emphasised.  

Enter the Infinite - Revelation

Damien Hirst’s ‘Enter the Infinite – Revelation' is a transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful tapestry produced after a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008. The original’s aesthetic of randomness is accompanied in the present tapestry by mathematical intervention, precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the action to create a visually arresting work.  

With spurts of blue, yellow and green shooting vertically, and green, yellow and red horizontally, Damien Hirst’s tapestry ‘Enter the Infinite – Dream’ is incredibly potent. Based on a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008, Hirst juxtaposes its aesthetic of randomness here with his careful mathematical process of division, reflection and repetition.  

Such exactness nonetheless produces sporadic visual reactions. The tapestry takes the eye on an uneasy journey into and out of the work’s centre. The eye cannot contain the patterns of colours and the shifting perspectives of inward and outward motion, the design thus constituting a reflection on its limits and functions. 

Hirst’s experimentations with the eye are also present in the medium itself: the jacquard-woven process requires only a small selection of colours which the eye optically blends. That ‘Enter the Infinite – Dream’ is a tapestry also links it to the medium’s historical associations to concepts such as belief and spectacle, which Hirst explores elsewhere in his practice.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Dream' is visually arresting as it apparently captures the intense motion of the spinning technology in a moment of stasis. Motion, expanded and emphasised, emerges as both the image’s unequivocally awe-inspiring form and composition.  

Enter the Infinite - Dream

With spurts of blue, yellow and green shooting vertically, and green, yellow and red horizontally, Damien Hirst’s tapestry ‘Enter the Infinite – Dream’ is incredibly potent. Based on a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008, Hirst juxtaposes its aesthetic of randomness here with his careful mathematical process of division, reflection and repetition.  

Damien Hirst’s entirely joyful ‘Enter the Infinite – Supernatural’ tapestry takes the eye on an arresting journey. Exploding from the centre is a vertical ‘X’ rendered in blue, white and yellow, and a horizontal one in white, red and blue. These colours are repeated across the tapestry and surrounded by powerful spurts of green.  

Using a precise mathematical process, an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 is divided, reflected and repeated to create captivating visual effects. The tapestry draws the viewer’s gaze into the centre before directing it out, overwhelming the eye which cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion.  

The limits and functions of the eye are also highlighted by the medium. Using a limited selection of colours, the tapestry relies on the eye to optically blend the colours. Hirst’s choice of tapestry also situates it within the medium’s age-old associations to notions like belief and spectacle, which correspond to his practice.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Supernatural' is an arresting work which sheds a new light on the dynamic form and composition of the original ‘Spin Painting’. In juxtaposing movement and stasis, Hirst produces an entrancing image of seemingly infinite planes of prismatic patterns. 

Enter the Infinite - Supernatural

Damien Hirst’s entirely joyful ‘Enter the Infinite – Supernatural’ tapestry takes the eye on an arresting journey. Exploding from the centre is a vertical ‘X’ rendered in blue, white and yellow, and a horizontal one in white, red and blue. These colours are repeated across the tapestry and surrounded by powerful spurts of green.  

Damien Hirst’s transfixing tapestry ‘Enter the Infinite – Trance' stunningly displays the artist’s skill in joining colour and composition to create captivating effects. The work precisely divides a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008, repeating and reflecting the original’s chance paint splatters to create an arresting image.  

The practice of producing the ‘Spin Painting’ remains apparent, seen in the layering of paint as a fanning blue ‘X’ sits above spurts of white, green, yellow and red. These colourful patterns lead the eye on a complicated journey into and out of the work’s centre, movements that overwhelm it.  

Struggling to adapt to the shifting perspectives of motion, the limits and functions of the eye are revealed. The jacquard-woven process highlights this further as it utilises a small selection of colours to render an image, relying on the eye to optically blend them. Hirst’s choice of tapestry also recalls the medium’s age-old associations with notions like belief and spectacle which correspond to his practice. 

‘Enter the Infinite – Trance’ places motion at its centre, appropriating the movement of the ‘Spin Painting’ into its own form and composition, expanding and emphasising it. Through the visual tensions of movement and stasis, Hirst composes a dazzling and ever-changing work. 

Enter the Infinite - Trance

Damien Hirst’s transfixing tapestry ‘Enter the Infinite – Trance' stunningly displays the artist’s skill in joining colour and composition to create captivating effects. The work precisely divides a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008, repeating and reflecting the original’s chance paint splatters to create an arresting image.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Light’, a vibrant tapestry by Damien Hirst, divides his original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 into an entrancing eight-point star. From a central yellow and green star bursts patterns of yellow, green, red, blue and white, the product of precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the original painting. These patterns lead the eye on an uneasy journey into the centre of the work and then out. These shifting inward and outward perspectives are difficult for the eye to follow, revealing its limitations and functions. 

This effect is also highlighted in the woven medium, produced using a limited range of colours which the eye is directed to optically blend. Hirst’s choice of tapestry to produce the work also places ‘Enter the Infinite – Light’ within the medium’s age-old associations to notions like belief and spectacle which correspond to his practice. 

‘Enter the Infinite – Light' places motion at its centre, translating the movement of the ‘Spin Painting’ into its form and composition, expanding and emphasising it. Through the visual tensions of movement and stasis, Hirst composes a captivating and ever-changing work. 

Enter the Infinite - Light

‘Enter the Infinite – Light’, a vibrant tapestry by Damien Hirst, divides his original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 into an entrancing eight-point star. From a central yellow and green star bursts patterns of yellow, green, red, blue and white, the product of precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the original painting. These patterns lead the eye on an uneasy journey into the centre of the work and then out. These shifting inward and outward perspectives are difficult for the eye to follow, revealing its limitations and functions. 

‘Enter the Infinite – Rapture' is a transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful tapestry produced after a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008. The painting’s aesthetic of randomness is accompanied here by mathematical intervention, precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the action to create a visually arresting work.  

Hirst’s tapestry takes the eye on a complicated journey into and out of the image’s central point. Emanating from the work’s centre is a cross shape, rendered in alternating blues, reds, yellows and greens. The eye attempts to follow the patterns of colours but cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion, the artwork thus constituting a reflection on the limits and functions of the human eye.  

This effect is further emphasised through its medium. ‘Enter the Infinite – Rapture’ is produced using a small selection of booming colours, which the eye blends as it navigates its way through intense motion. This motion is recollective of the mechanised jacquard-woven process used to make the tapestry and indeed the spinning technology used to produce the original painting. Reimagining the form and composition of the ‘Spin Painting’, ‘Enter the Infinite – Rapture’ expands and emphasises the dynamic motion of the original work. 

Enter the Infinite - Rapture

‘Enter the Infinite – Rapture' is a transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful tapestry produced after a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008. The painting’s aesthetic of randomness is accompanied here by mathematical intervention, precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the action to create a visually arresting work.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Being’, a tapestry by Damien Hirst, takes the eye on an uneasy journey. Exploding from the centre are diamond and cross shapes, rendered largely in green and complimented by blue, white, yellow and red.  

Based on a ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008, Hirst accompanies the original’s aesthetic of randomness here with his careful mathematical process of division, reflection and repetition. Through its dynamic colours and patterns, the tapestry draws the eye into the work’s centre and then directs it out, overwhelming the eye which cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion.  

This reflection on the limits and functions of the eye is matched by the medium: the tapestry relies on the eye to blend the small selection of colours used. Given the medium’s age-old associations with notions like belief and spectacle, Hirst’s choice to produce ‘Enter the Infinite – Being’ as a tapestry marks a further development in his ongoing interventions with these themes.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Being’ is an arresting work which appropriates the motion of the ‘Spin Painting’ process into a unique form and composition. In juxtaposing movement and stasis, Hirst produces a deeply entrancing work. 

Enter the Infinite - Being

‘Enter the Infinite – Being’, a tapestry by Damien Hirst, takes the eye on an uneasy journey. Exploding from the centre are diamond and cross shapes, rendered largely in green and complimented by blue, white, yellow and red.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Ecstasy’ is an extraordinarily dynamic tapestry. A thin blue cross emerges from the centre, complimented with details of red, yellow and green and surrounded by glowing fields of yellow. Using a careful mathematical process, an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 is divided, reflected and repeated.  

Such exactness nonetheless produces sporadic visual reactions. ‘Enter the Infinite – Ecstasy’ takes the eye on an uneasy journey quickly into and immediately out of the work’s centre. Along the way, the patterns of colours apparently overwhelm the eye which cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion, constituting a reflection on its limits and functions. 

Hirst’s experimentations with the eye are also present in the medium. The tapestry is produced using a limited selection of colours which the eye optically blends. Given the medium’s age-old associations with notions like belief and spectacle, Hirst’s choice to produce ‘Enter the Infinite – Ecstasy’ as a tapestry also marks a further development of his own ongoing interventions with these themes.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Ecstasy’ is visually arresting as it captures the intense motion of the spinning technology and the mechanised jacquard-weaving process in a moment of stasis. Motion, expanded and emphasised, defines the image’s unequivocally awe-inspiring form and composition.  

Enter the Infinite - Ecstasy

‘Enter the Infinite – Ecstasy’ is an extraordinarily dynamic tapestry. A thin blue cross emerges from the centre, complimented with details of red, yellow and green and surrounded by glowing fields of yellow. Using a careful mathematical process, an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 is divided, reflected and repeated.  

Damien Hirst’s ‘Enter the Infinite – Glory' is a transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful tapestry produced after an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008. The original’s aesthetic of randomness is juxtaposed with the present mathematical process of division, reflection and repetition to create a visually arresting work. 

Hirst’s tapestry takes the eye on a complicated journey into and out of the image’s central point. Emanating from its centre is a cross shape rendered in alternating thicknesses and colours of red, green, yellow and blue, surrounded by a field of green and white. The eye attempts to follow these patterns of colour but cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion, inviting viewers to reflect on the limits and functions of the human eye. This effect is further emphasised through the artwork’s medium: the booming colours of the ‘Enter the Infinite – Glory’ tapestry are produced using a small selection of colours which the eye optically blends.  

The present work arrests the eye through intense motion, recollective of the spinning technology used to produce the original painting and the mechanised jacquard-weaving process used to generate the tapestry. Translating the painting into a new form and composition, ‘Enter the Infinite – Glory’ expands and emphasises the dynamic motion of the original work. 

Enter the Infinite - Glory

Damien Hirst’s ‘Enter the Infinite – Glory' is a transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful tapestry produced after an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008. The original’s aesthetic of randomness is juxtaposed with the present mathematical process of division, reflection and repetition to create a visually arresting work. 

‘Enter the Infinite – Exaltation’, a tapestry by Damien Hirst, divides an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 into an entrancing cross shape. As it emanates outward from the centre of the artwork, the cross turns and alternates in yellow, green, red, blue and white, the product of precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the original painting. The composition prompts a complicated journey through the visual field as the eye is led quickly into and out of the work’s centre. These shifting inward and outward perspectives are difficult for the eye to follow, revealing its limitations and functions. 

This effect is also highlighted in the medium, produced using a limited selection of colours which the eye is directed to optically blend. That ‘Enter the Infinite – Exaltation’ is a tapestry links it to the medium’s historical associations to concepts such as belief and spectacle, which Hirst explores elsewhere in his practice. 

‘Enter the Infinite – Exaltation' places motion at its centre, translating the movement of the ‘Spin Painting’ into its own unique form and composition, expanding and emphasising it. Through the visual tensions of movement and stasis, Hirst composes an engaging and ever-changing work. 

Enter the Infinite - Exaltation

‘Enter the Infinite – Exaltation’, a tapestry by Damien Hirst, divides an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 into an entrancing cross shape. As it emanates outward from the centre of the artwork, the cross turns and alternates in yellow, green, red, blue and white, the product of precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the original painting. The composition prompts a complicated journey through the visual field as the eye is led quickly into and out of the work’s centre. These shifting inward and outward perspectives are difficult for the eye to follow, revealing its limitations and functions.

Damien Hirst’s transfixing tapestry ‘Enter the Infinite – Prophecy’ takes the eye on a dynamic journey. Emerging from the centre is a glowing cross shape rendered in yellow, green and blue. This shape is mimicked as the composition moves outward, each subsequent quarter section rendered in alternating colours of yellow, red, green, blue and white.  

Using a precise mathematical process, an original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 is divided, reflected and repeated to create the captivating visual effects of ‘Enter the Infinite – Prophecy’. The tapestry draws the viewer’s gaze quickly into the centre and then immediately directs it out, deliberately overwhelming the eye, which cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion.  

The limits and functions of the eye are also highlighted by the medium. Using a small selection of colours, the tapestry relies on the eye to blend the colours. Hirst’s choice of tapestry also recalls the medium’s age-old associations with notions like belief and spectacle, which correspond to his practice. 

‘Enter the Infinite – Being’ is an arresting work which translates the motion of the ‘Spin Painting’ process into form and composition, capturing and expanding it in a frozen moment. In juxtaposing movement and stasis, Hirst has created a deeply entrancing work. 

Enter the Infinite - Prophecy

Damien Hirst’s transfixing tapestry ‘Enter the Infinite – Prophecy’ takes the eye on a dynamic journey. Emerging from the centre is a glowing cross shape rendered in yellow, green and blue. This shape is mimicked as the composition moves outward, each subsequent quarter section rendered in alternating colours of yellow, red, green, blue and white.  

‘Enter the Infinite – Seeing' by Damien Hirst takes the eye on an active journey through the tapestry. A blue cross outlined in yellow sits at its centre, surrounded by patterns of diamonds and squares in white, red, yellow and green. Emerging from the central cross are four sparse bursts of blue and green which interrupt the white background.  

Using a precise mathematical process, the original ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008 on which ‘Enter the Infinite – Seeing’ is based is divided, reflected and repeated to create captivating visual effects. The tapestry draws the viewer’s gaze quickly into the centre and then immediately directs it out, overwhelming the eye which cannot contain the shifting perspectives of motion.  

The limits and functions of the eye are also highlighted by the medium. Using a selection of primary colours, the tapestry relies on a viewer to optically blend them. Hirst’s choice of tapestry also recalls the medium’s age-old associations with notions like belief and spectacle, which correspond to his practice. 

The arresting ‘Enter the Infinite – Seeing’ turns the motion of the ‘Spin Painting’ process into its own unique form and composition, capturing it in a frozen moment. In juxtaposing movement and stasis, Hirst has produced a deeply entrancing work. 

Enter the Infinite - Seeing

‘Enter the Infinite – Seeing' by Damien Hirst takes the eye on an active journey through the tapestry. A blue cross outlined in yellow sits at its centre, surrounded by patterns of diamonds and squares in white, red, yellow and green. Emerging from the central cross are four sparse bursts of blue and green which interrupt the white background.  

‘Colour Chart’ represents a milestone in Damien Hirst’s quest to capture the joy of colour in his work. Fusing the commercial and mass-produced nature of colour charts found in home improvement stores with the endeavours of his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ series, in 2017 his ‘Colour Chart’ paintings evolved into the limited editions print, ‘Colour Chart’ (H2). 

To ‘Colour Chart’ Hirst brings the fundamental logic of his ‘Spot Paintings’ series (begun in 1986): that no colour is repeated within a single work and that the perfectly shaped and equally sized spots are organised into a grid. Here enlarging and flattening the spots into rectangles, the once blank backgrounds are also interrupted by name tags, numbered codes and company logos, which emphatically individualise each colour. In the right field of ‘Colour Chart’, 12 coloured rectangles are set within a black box, emphasising different colour contrasts. 

In ‘Colour Chart’ Hirst recreates the consumer’s experience of comparing commercial paint colours, through small boxes of colour and descriptive text, putting his own spin on the format along the way. Notably, unlike commercial paint samples, the colours do not gradate but appear to be organised at random, complicating the colours and a viewer’s comparative experience. With ‘Colour Chart’ Hirst transforms ordinary, functional tools into an art object that foreground the interactive potentials of colour, presenting as an art object what in the real world would be an unartistic, mundane detail of everyday life.  

By returning to the multiplicious nature of printed commercial colour charts, abstracted from the paint they are made to represent, these prints allow viewers to become enthralled by the natures of the colours themselves, and lose themselves in the neat, harmonious arrangements.  

Colour Chart

‘Colour Chart’ represents a milestone in Damien Hirst’s quest to capture the joy of colour in his work. Fusing the commercial and mass-produced nature of colour charts found in home improvement stores with the endeavours of his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ series, in 2017 his ‘Colour Chart’ paintings evolved into the limited editions print, ‘Colour Chart’ (H2). 

Beautifully shimmering, ‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ (H3) was published in 2017 as part of Damien Hirst’s ‘Colour Charts’ painting series. A milestone in Hirst’s quest to capture the joy of colour in his work, ‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ fuses the commercial and mass-produced nature of colour charts found in home improvement stores with the endeavours of his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ series (begun in 1986).  

‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ was born out of the fundamental logic of Hirst’s ‘Spot Paintings’. Here enlarging and flattening the spots into rectangles, colour is never repeated and is organised into perfectly shaped and equally sized forms into a grid. Notably different from ‘Spot Paintings’, the once blank backgrounds are interrupted by name tags, numbered codes and company logos, which emphatically individualise each colour. Further, 12 coloured rectangles are set within a black box in the right field of the canvas, emphasising different colour contrasts. 

Hirst recreates the consumer’s experience of comparing commercial paint colours, through small boxes of colour and descriptive text, putting his own spin on the format along the way. Notably, unlike commercial paint samples, the colours do not gradate but appear to be organised at random, complicating the colours and the comparative experience. In ‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ Hirst takes this one step further, screenprinting each colour sample with glitter to add a playfulness to the composition and a humour by insinuating houses full of shimmering walls.  

With ‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ Hirst transforms ordinary, functional tools into art objects that foreground the interactive potentials of colour. Presenting as an art object what in the real world would be an unartistic, mundane detail of everyday life, Hirst forces the viewer to appreciate this fundamental element of aesthetic beauty. By returning to the multiplicious nature of printed commercial colour charts, abstracted from the paint they are made to represent, these prints allow viewers to become enthralled by the natures of the colours themselves, and lose themselves in the neat, harmonious arrangements.  

Colour Chart (glitter)

Beautifully shimmering, ‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ (H3) was published in 2017 as part of Damien Hirst’s ‘Colour Charts’ painting series. A milestone in Hirst’s quest to capture the joy of colour in his work, ‘Colour Chart (Glitter)’ fuses the commercial and mass-produced nature of colour charts found in home improvement stores with the endeavours of his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ series (begun in 1986).  

Named for the historical garden in Potsdam, ‘Sans Souci’ is a visually entrancing facsimile print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H1, 2018) series. ‘Sans Souci’ depicts details from one of Hirst’s critically acclaimed ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017). Across the series, Hirst employed a Pointillism-like technique to overlap seemingly endless layers of synthetic, Pierre Bonnard-like colour to create works that act simultaneously as solid and invisible barriers.  

A great lover of colour and the joy that it can create, Hirst used hand-mixed paints akin to “sweet shop colours and the colours of fruit and flowers”. Pink, red and orange hues dominate ‘Sans Souci’, accented on top by spurts of white and below by yellow, green and blue. Though entirely abstract, this layering gives the work a pronounced sense of depth, forming another enticing dimension of colour.  

This sense of depth is also created through Hirst’s mature use of thick impasto, no longer evenly applying his paint but allowing it to splatter and pile up in an almost Pollock-like fashion. The result is an undeniable sense of energy and life that is successfully captured in the present edition. This high-quality facsimile print creates the illusion of impasto paint, capturing not only the sensibility of the original painting but also creating another layer in Hirst’s veil.  

Sans Souci

Named for the historical garden in Potsdam, ‘Sans Souci’ is a visually entrancing facsimile print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H1, 2018) series. ‘Sans Souci’ depicts details from one of Hirst’s critically acclaimed ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017). Across the series, Hirst employed a Pointillism-like technique to overlap seemingly endless layers of synthetic, Pierre Bonnard-like colour to create works that act simultaneously as solid and invisible barriers.  

Damien Hirst’s enveloping facsimile print ‘Andromeda’ captures details of the layers of hand-mixed paint, which act like veils, found in his ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series. Entities which Hirst describes as “solid yet invisible and reveals and yet obscures the truth”, the veils are the result of mixing the unnatural hues of Pierre Bonnard with the short strokes of Pointillism.  

Produced in 2018 as part of ‘Veils’ (H4), ‘Andromeda’ is composed of an exquisitely serene palette of thick colours, applied with distinct impasto and an energy reminiscent of the Abstract Expressionists. Named for the botanical garden in the village of Bathsheba, Barbados, from the work’s upper right corner, an avalanche of blues, purples, pinks and white fall to meet darker blues as well as reds, oranges and yellows. These rapturous colours are evocative of a sweetshop, rendering ‘Andromeda’ a successful fulfilment of Hirst’s perennial experiments with joy produced through colour. 

These layered colours in short thick strokes create a sense of depth, forging a tantalising and immersive pictorial space. This effect is retained in the present edition, a superb facsimile that mystically captures the textures, depth and vibrant colours of the original work. 

Andromeda

Damien Hirst’s enveloping facsimile print ‘Andromeda’ captures details of the layers of hand-mixed paint, which act like veils, found in his ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series. Entities which Hirst describes as “solid yet invisible and reveals and yet obscures the truth”, the veils are the result of mixing the unnatural hues of Pierre Bonnard with the short strokes of Pointillism.  

Damien Hirst’s seemingly abstract candy-coloured flower field, ‘Garden of Dreams’, is an engulfing facsimile print from ‘Veils’ (H4). Depicting details derived from his ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series and published in 2018, in this work Hirst fills the pictorial space with Pierre Bonnard-like colours using a technique reminiscent of Pointillism to create works that function like a veil. The artist has described these compositions as acting as “a barrier, a curtain between two things...it’s solid yet invisible and reveals and yet obscures the truth”.  

‘Garden of Dreams’, named for the garden in Kaiser Mahal Kathmandu, Nepal, is incredibly energetic, largely dominated by short strokes of bubble-gum pink and variously overlaid with yellows, white, blues and greens. Using exceptionally thick impasto which at times even splatters, ‘Garden of Dreams’ has an air of spontaneity and action. With its numerous painted layers, the composition appears to recede backward endlessly, as if inviting the viewer to follow along the journey into the depths of the print. 

These effects are captured in the present edition, a facsimile of the highest quality. ‘Garden of Dreams’ conveys every detail of the original painting, eloquently translating the textures, colours and sense of depth into the printed medium. It also builds on the foundations of Hirst’s original work, inherently acting as another boundary before the world within the pictorial space. 

Garden of Dreams

Damien Hirst’s seemingly abstract candy-coloured flower field, ‘Garden of Dreams’, is an engulfing facsimile print from ‘Veils’ (H4). Depicting details derived from his ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series and published in 2018, in this work Hirst fills the pictorial space with Pierre Bonnard-like colours using a technique reminiscent of Pointillism to create works that function like a veil. The artist has described these compositions as acting as “a barrier, a curtain between two things...it’s solid yet invisible and reveals and yet obscures the truth”.  

Layers upon layers of blues, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, pinks and white cover Damien Hirst’s ‘Cannizaro’, a dreamlike facsimile print from an original painting. Published in 2018, the present work is from Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) series, in which sensuous details derived from his acclaimed ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) are depicted: from the layers of Pierre Bonnard-like colour to the short strokes reminiscent of Pointillism. The result is veil-like works, entities that apparently could be passed through while nonetheless remaining physical boundaries.  

Hirst refers to his palette as “sweet shop colours and the colours of fruit and flowers”, giving reason for the liveliness of 'Cannizaro’, named for the park in London. He applied these colours with thick impasto, at times splattering the paints across the canvas in an Abstract Expressionist-like manner, creating an undeniable sense of movement.  

In their various shades these colours are unevenly and seemingly infinitely layered, generating an impression of depth akin to a maze that beckons one to enter and weave through its colourful pathways. None of this is lost in ‘Cannizaro’, which brilliantly captures the colour, depth and texture of the original work. It also builds on Hirst’s veil interpretations, acting as another boundary before the world within the composition. 

Cannizaro

Layers upon layers of blues, reds, oranges, yellows, greens, pinks and white cover Damien Hirst’s ‘Cannizaro’, a dreamlike facsimile print from an original painting. Published in 2018, the present work is from Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) series, in which sensuous details derived from his acclaimed ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) are depicted: from the layers of Pierre Bonnard-like colour to the short strokes reminiscent of Pointillism. The result is veil-like works, entities that apparently could be passed through while nonetheless remaining physical boundaries.  

Named for the 500-acre garden in the Chonburi Province, Thailand, ‘Nong Nooch’ is a stunning print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) series. Produced in 2020, ‘Nong Nooch’ depicts details derived from Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series in which he uses thick, clustered and colourful brush strokes to create riotous compositions that transport viewers deep into his world of colour.  

Blue, red, yellow and pink dots of thickly layered paint coat the canvas, resulting in an image that entrances the viewer with its vivid hues. Entirely covered by abstract layers of colour, the image seems to offer a glimpse into another world. In that sense, ‘Nong Nooch’ works like a veil to both reveal and conceal an inner truth, “the thing that we are searching for”.  

These effects are captured vividly in the present edition, where the textures, depth and vibrant colours of the original work are replicated in incredible detail. Its title, which refers to one of the world’s most extraordinary gardens, presents the composition in a new way. Through this lens, the vivid spots and splashes of colour in ‘Nong Nooch’ evoke fields of flowers, their blossoms clustered together and masking the ground underneath.  

Nong Nooch

Named for the 500-acre garden in the Chonburi Province, Thailand, ‘Nong Nooch’ is a stunning print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) series. Produced in 2020, ‘Nong Nooch’ depicts details derived from Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series in which he uses thick, clustered and colourful brush strokes to create riotous compositions that transport viewers deep into his world of colour.  

Rich layers of yellow, green and blue, accented by splashes of red and white, characterise Damien Hirst’s ‘Kew’, from his ‘Veils’ (H4) series. Published in 2020, the present work is a vibrant edition which captures sensuous details from Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017). Recalling the artist’s iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ and ‘Visual Candy’ series, the ‘Veil Paintings’ embrace colour and artistic gesture on a large scale. The series is a continuation of Hirst’s investigation of colour relationships, intended to celebrate “colour and chaos in a big way”.  

‘Kew’ is named for the Royal Botanical Gardens located in London’s eponymous district, a choice that deliberately suggests abstracted botanical imagery as the subject of the print. The pure, rich colours layered thickly upon the canvas in strokes recollective of Pointillism mimic the lush colour of flowers in bloom, conveying a sense of vibrancy and life.  

Layers upon layers of thickly applied paint appear to recede away from the viewer, creating an image that is both an impenetrable surface and, seemingly, a window offering a glimpse into another world. ‘Kew’ captures this effect and enhances it further, the print medium effectively adding another layer of abstraction to Hirst’s veil.  

Rich layers of yellow, green and blue, accented by splashes of red and white, characterise Damien Hirst’s ‘Kew’, from his ‘Veils’ (H4) series. Published in 2020, the present work is a vibrant edition which captures sensuous details from Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017). Recalling the artist’s iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ and ‘Visual Candy’ series, the ‘Veil Paintings’ embrace colour and artistic gesture on a large scale. The series is a continuation of Hirst’s investigation of colour relationships, intended to celebrate “colour and chaos in a big way”.  

Visually arresting, ‘Ryoanji’ is dominated by dark, autumnal shades of red, in densely textured dots spread thickly across the picture plane. Named after the Zen temple garden in Kyoto, this stunningly vibrant print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ series was published in 2020. The rich colours appear larger than life, seemingly radiating beyond the boundaries of the artwork’s surface.  

‘Ryoanji’ is one in a series of editions that capture details from Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ series (2017), transforming them into printed editions and making the enormous paintings more accessible. The ‘Veils’ series affords viewers the opportunity to focus on the pure, rich qualities of Hirst’s colours, and explore the textured surfaces of each canvas.  Of his ‘Veil Paintings’, Hirst said “I want you to get lost into them, I want you to fall into them, and I want them to delight your eyes and make you want to stay in the painting”.   

The splashes of pink, white, blue and green emerging from behind the densely distributed red impasto lend greater depth to this striking image. Appearing almost like an autumnal forest, the enigmatic composition of ‘Ryoanji’ invites viewers to wonder at the hidden image that seems to emerge from behind the intensely red paint.  

Ryoanji

Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) is a riotous ensemble of variously coloured dots of thick paint. Consisting of zoomed-in details of the artist’s eponymous series of 24 paintings, this collection of eight Diasec-mounted Giclée prints on aluminium panels transports viewers deep into Hirst’s world of colour.

A dazzling array of blue, red, and pastel pink paint, accented with flecks of green, makes up ‘Keukenhof’, an unabashedly joyful composition. Named for Holland’s famous tulip garden, this vibrantly coloured print evokes images of flowers, packed so densely that they obscure the ground underneath. 

‘Keukenhof’ is the final print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’, published in 2020 and depicting details from his ‘Veil Paintings’ (2017) series. ‘Keukenhof’ combines Pierre Bonnard-like colours with a technique reminiscent of Pointillism, to enchanting and immersive effect. The artwork image is at once meditative and energetic, the short strokes of brightly coloured paint creating a sense of dynamism and movement, while the complex and abstract design invites a viewer to pause and consider more carefully the response it evokes in them.  

The present artwork captures and replicates the colours, impact and textures of the original painting in superb detail. It also builds further on Hirst’s conception of the original series, adding another veil-like boundary between the viewer and the world within the composition.

Keukenhof

Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) is a riotous ensemble of variously coloured dots of thick paint. Consisting of zoomed-in details of the artist’s eponymous series of 24 paintings, this collection of eight Diasec-mounted Giclée prints on aluminium panels transports viewers deep into Hirst’s world of colour.  

Damien Hirst’s visually entrancing facsimile print ‘Gritti’ is speckled with extraordinarily playful spots. This print from Hirst’s ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) is based on an original work from his eponymous painting series from 2016. Borrowing the logic of uniquely coloured spots from his ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), in ‘Colour Space’ gone are the iconic grids, replaced by a randomness of movement, colour and even splattering paint to enliven the once strictly arranged spots.  

Against a white background, vibrant hues of red, orange, green, blue, purple, yellow and pink spots are congested, touching and overlapping to cover the near entirety of the present picture plane. The occasional splatter adds an additional air of vitality, emphasising the dynamic nature of the work. Together the spots play tricks on the eyes, appearing almost like pixelations as their colours unintentionally assemble into captivating swirling and circular patterns. 

The spots in ‘Gritti’, named for the palace hotel in Venice, appear to float in space and total to seemingly infinite numbers as they push past the picture plane, effectively establishing connections to atoms under a microscope. Reverberating with energy, these dynamic particles construct a work that seems suspended in a constant state of transformation.  

Gritti

Infused with the child-like joy reminiscent of his ‘Spin Paintings’ series, begun in 1994, Damien Hirst’s 2016 ‘Colour Space’ paintings rid themselves of the rigid structure of his ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), constituting a new phase in Hirst’s endless endeavour to “[pin] down the joy of colour”. In 2018 in collaboration with HENI Editions, Hirst translated the logic of these 261 paintings into the eponymous ‘Colour Space’ (H5) series of eight spot prints which reverberate with seemingly boundless energy.  

Damien Hirst’s argument that “colour is just a powerful, uplifting thing” materialises in ‘Beverley Hills’. This facsimile print from Hirst’s ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018), which is based on an original work from his eponymous 2016 painting series, portrays a free-flowing approach to depicting spots: it diverges from his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986) whilst maintaining the same focus on the optical effects of colour relations. 

Named for the iconic Los Angeles hotel, there is a distinct sense of movement in ‘Beverley Hills’ as spots not only touch and overlap, but some appear to shoot into place almost like comets. These variously coloured spots are imperfectly rendered, their shapes warped in a deliberate attempt to defy Hirst’s once formal precision. Some colours even splatter, pulling paint across the work and rendering these spots like floating balloons. Joined with their distinctly vibrant colours, ‘Beverley Hills’ is an entirely joyful piece.  

The seemingly endless spots which cover and exceed the picture plane are also akin to atoms. Reverberating with a dynamic amount of life and energy, these spots bounce around, together fortuitously forming a composition that continues to change before the viewer. The longer one stands before ‘Beverley Hills’, the more swirling and circular patterns emerge, an effect that is maintained in the present edition. 

Beverly Hills

Damien Hirst’s ‘Camino Real’ from ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) offers viewers an up-close view of his style which overtly diverges from his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), employing imperfect and free forms to energise the composition. This facsimile print is derived from his 2016 ‘Colour Space’ series, which deconstructs Hirst’s previous mechanical grid system and allows warped spots to float haphazardly across the canvas. 

In ‘Camino Real’, Hirst’s variously shaded spots are set against a white background, at times touching and overlapping. Unlike those in his ‘Spots Paintings’, these spots are not stationary but dynamically move, their colours occasionally splattering. These splatters seemingly confer tail-like elements to these spots, rendering them like balloons and heightening the inherently celebratory nature of this work. Across their various forms, together these spots construct entrancing swirling and circular patterns.  

These spots reverberate with life, covering and apparently surpassing the entirety of the picture plane. As such, ‘Camino Real’ is recollective of atomic structures being observed through a microscope, the sheer number of them sliced into a single slide. Through its medium of Diasc-mounted Giclée print on aluminium panel, the comparison of ‘Camino Real’ to energetic particles being sandwiched between pieces of glass for study is further strengthened, allowing the printed medium to transport the original work into a new level of understanding. 

Camino Real

“It’s a surface that moves”, said Damien Hirst of his spot motif, a sentiment that evokes the energy of the facsimile print ‘Claridges’ from his ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) series. Named for the luxurious London hotel, ‘Claridges’ is derived from an original painting belonging to the 2016 ‘Colour Space’ series. These works undo the pristine spots strictly allocated into grids in Hirst’s ‘Spots Paintings’ (begun in 1986), advocating instead for imperfection and vitality produced through chance.  

Across a white background float imperfectly shaped and vibrantly coloured spots, at times bouncing into each other and overlapping. The spots, which span and apparently surpass the picture plane, are enlarged, implying that ‘Claridges’ is a zoomed in section of a greater field of spots. The resulting composition both offers a closer study of the fundamental forms and emphasises their movement.  

The spots in ‘Claridges’, which were painted at random, unintentionally form an overall composition full of swirling and circling patterns. Each spot reveals varying thicknesses of paint and some seem to shimmer as if still wet, creating a unique sense of tactility which is maintained within the printed format. This freshness is complimented by the Pollock-like paint splatters which adds a distinct air of dynamism and spontaneity to the work. 

Claridges

Damien Hirst’s ‘Raffles’ from his ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) series is an enveloping work which reverberates incessantly with life and joy. Named for the luxury hotel in Singapore, the present facsimile is derived from an original painting belonging to the ‘Colour Space’ series (2016). Breaking down the logic of his ‘Spot Paintings’, these works champion imperfection and chance. 

The spots in ‘Raffles’ float against a white background and were coloured at random using a palette ranging from a deep and powerful red to a purple so pale it practically fades into the background. At times bouncing into each other or overlapping, these spots cover and apparently exceed the picture plane, alluding to its continuation outside the confines of the visual field. Together, the varying colours and random arrangements unintentionally create optical illusions of swirling and circular patterns.  

Notably, ‘Raffles’ is part of a subsection of the series in which the spots are enlarged as if zoomed in under a microscope. With the intricacies of these spots on full display, some spots appear to have thicker layers of paint than others, presenting an undeniable sense of tactility. This view also highlights the Pollock-like paint splatters, rendered in their joyful colours and emphasising the overarching air of spontaneity in the present work. 

Raffles

Against a white background variously coloured spots, from hot pink to a light blue that practically fades into the background, cover the visual field of Damien Hirst’s ‘Plaza’. Named for the iconic New York City hotel, this facsimile print is the sixth work from the ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) series, which is derived from Hirst’s eponymous painting series from 2016. Breaking down the logic of his ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), these works champion imperfection and chance. 

The floating spots are dynamic and defy any sense of order, at times appearing to bounce into each other or overlap. This implied movement paired with their randomly allocated colours creates an intense sense of joy and energy. The formulation of life through chance is also apparent in the splatters of paint across the canvas, reminiscent of a Pollock-like action. Such liveliness comes through in the overall composition with unintentional swirling and circular patterns emerging.  

Its spots enlarged, ‘Plaza’ seems to zoom in on a larger composition, offering the viewer a subsection for study. Here, the true degree of imperfection emerges – the spots slightly warped, the colours of some flawed and the paint ranging in thickness. As such, ‘Plaza’ deftly captures the texture of the original painting, adding another layer to its fantastically sensuous viewing experience.   

Plaza

Damien Hirst’s ‘Cafe Royal’ sets a prismatic palette of spots against a black background to create a deeply intricate composition. Named for the five-star hotel in London, this facsimile print from ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) is derived from Hirst’s eponymous painting series from 2016. Breaking down the logic of his ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), these works champion imperfection and chance by randomly arranging the spots and conferring them with spontaneous choices of colour. 

‘Cafe Royal’ captivates through its seemingly infinite number of tiny spots which cover the near entirety of the visual field and appear to extend beyond its limits. Unlike the construction of his ‘Spot Paintings’, the present work allows the spots to touch and even overlap, informing a sense of movement and life. The small size of these spots and the distinct number of them recall atomic particles which similarly reverberate with life and energy.  

This sense of life is emphasised by the established contrasts, the black background enhancing the vibrancy of colour.  Unintentional swirling and circular patterns emerge like a mosaic, the spots appearing like intricate tesserae which make up this positively enveloping composition. 

Cafe Royal

Named for the famous London hotel, Damien Hirst’s ‘Savoy’ employs eloquent colour contrasts and an aesthetic of randomness to create an undeniable sense of life and vitality. Published as part of Hirst’s ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018) series, ‘Savoy’ is a facsimile print derived from his ‘Colour Space’ paintings from 2016. These works energetically break down the mechanical logic of Hirst’s ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986). 

Set against a black background is a kaleidoscopic palette of colour conferred randomly to spontaneously arranged spots. These spots are imperfect and subtly warped at times through the splattering of paint. The Pollock-like action this implies is complimented by the apparent movement of the spots which drift toward each other, at times touching or overlapping. Considering the sheer number of dynamic spots, which cover the near entirety of the visual field and even appear to surpass its limits, comparisons can be drawn to atomic particles which similarly reverberate with undeniably energy. 

Derived from a minority of works set against a black background from the series, ‘Savoy’ emphasises the vibrancy of spots through the inherent colour contrasts. From the resulting composition emerges unintentional swirling and circular patterns which appear like a mosaic, the individual spots akin to intricate tesserae. 

Savoy

Since his 2001 ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ series emerged, Damien Hirst has produced awe-inspiring works in which his butterfly motif is arranged into dreamy kaleidoscopic patterns, among the most entrancing being ‘Mercy’. Part of ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019) series, Hirst’s artwork portrays intricately placed images of butterfly wings, each in various shades of blue.  

‘Mercy’ joins a lineage of Hirst’s works inspired by Victorian tea trays decorated with intricate patterns of butterfly wings. In the present work, various sizes of single and paired butterfly wings are carefully arranged, apparently billowing out from the centre of the work in perfect symmetry. While these butterflies are not real, they have the power of convincing viewers of otherwise, their delicate details superbly captured.  

Named for one of the characteristics of God as detailed in the Old Testament, ‘Mercy’ builds on Hirst’s interest in the butterfly motif as spiritual symbol, having been used in Christian imagery to signify resurrection. The connection to Christian imagery and symbology is further strengthened in the stained glass-like effects of ‘’Mercy’. Not only do these wings recall carefully cut pieces of glass set into black lead cames, but they also appear illuminated, as if lit from behind. Fusing this religious symbolism with his perennial fascination with the butterfly’s ability to retain an exquisite beauty in death just as in life, here Hirst establishes the insect as an uplifting and radiant symbol of mortality.  

Mercy

Damien Hirst’s ‘The Aspects’ (H6) captures to a remarkable degree the sensation of looking through a kaleidoscope. Produced in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland in 2019, ‘The Aspects’ sees a reprisal of Hirst’s characteristic butterfly motif through a series of five unique prints in which the artist continues his search into the butterfly’s potentials as a spiritual and existential metaphor. 

In ‘Grace’, Damien Hirst made use of his iconic butterfly motif to produce a magnificently entrancing work. The intricate patterns of butterfly wings on Victorian tea trays inspired him to construct his butterflies into complex patterns, leading him to produce ‘Grace’.  

‘Grace’, a print from ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019), depicts butterfly wings of various sizes in peaceful hues of blue and white. Arranged in perfectly symmetrical patterns, these wings emanate out from the vertical and horizontal axis, and then diagonally thereafter to create kaleidoscope-like patterns. Arranged in pairs or individually, these wings are not real but appear otherwise, their every minute detail captured in high definition. 

Named for one of the characteristics of God as detailed in the Old Testament, ‘Grace’ builds on Hirst’s interest in the butterfly motif as spiritual symbol, having been used in Christian imagery to signify resurrection. The connection to Christian imagery and symbology is further strengthened in the stained glass-like effects of ‘Grace’. Not only do these wings recall carefully cut pieces of glass set into black lead cames, but they also appear illuminated, as if lit from behind. Fusing this religious symbolism with his perennial fascination with the butterfly’s ability to retain an exquisite beauty in death just as in life, here Hirst establishes the insect as an uplifting and radiant symbol of mortality.  

Grace

The patterns of butterfly wings employed by Damien Hirst in ‘Patience’, rendered in various hues of blue and white, are remarkable. A kaleidoscopic composition from ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019), Hirst first began allocating his butterfly motif into intricate patterns in 2001 with his ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ series. 

Variously sized single and paired wings emanate from the work’s centre, producing a concentric circle at its base that is surrounded by complimenting arrangements. What is perhaps most striking about this pattern is the strong black lines that diagonally cross to meet each corner. With the wings set against a black background, the lines shoot through pairs of wings where the butterfly bodies once existed.  

While these butterfly wings are not real, the present artwork manages to capture their every detail, each delicate line and subtle colour variation. These details enliven the butterflies, as do Hirst’s stained glass-like illuminations. Fascinated by the spiritual symbolism associated with butterflies, having been used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection, Hirst arranged the wings like a Gothic window. Appearing like pieces of glass lit from behind, the wings are imbued with a godliness. 

Patience

Like a kaleidoscope, various hues of blue and white butterfly wings are allocated into intricate patterns in Damien Hirst’s ‘Goodness’, a striking print from ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019). The logic of the present composition, defined by a rigorous geometric pattern, is derived from the Hirst’s encounter with intricate patterns of butterfly wings on Victorian tea trays. 

Emanating out from the centre of ‘Goodness’ are single and paired wings arranged into six-point star patterns, the four corners of the picture plane filled with further wings. The composition is symmetrical, the patterns repeated exactly across the work and sectioned by 12 black lines that emerge from the centre to evenly divide the composition.  

Set against a black background, these butterfly wings are not real but appear lifelike as the superb quality of the present edition manages to capture their every detail. This liveliness is further enhanced by their apparent illumination, recollective of Gothic stained glass windows. Fascinated by the spiritual symbolism inherent to butterflies, which have been used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection, Hirst rendered the wings like pieces of glass lit from behind, enhancing their mystical qualities. 

Goodness

‘Truth’ is perhaps Damien Hirst’s most distinct work from ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019) series for its relatively simple, yet no less captivating, composition of butterfly wings. The present work is derived from the logic of his 2001 ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ series, inspired by the intricate patterns of butterfly wings on Victorian tea trays. 

In ‘Truth’, various hues of blue and white butterfly wings assemble into entirely symmetric concentric circles which emanate from the centre. In pairs or single, the differently sized wings are arranged such that the black background emerges through their centres to produce 24 lines, dividing the composition.  

Though these wings are not real, they are positively captivating as their every detail is captured through the present media, effectively giving the illusion of the real insect. This liveliness is enhanced by their stained glass-like nature. Fascinated by the spiritual symbolism inherent to butterflies, which had been used by the Greeks to depict Psyche, the soul, and in Christian imagery to signify the resurrection, Hirst’s arrangement recalls the famous Gothic rose window. The wings appear like pieces of coloured glass illuminated from behind, adding an undeniable spirituality to the composition. 

Truth

Damien Hirst’s ‘Earth’ is a warm yet undeniably entrancing pictorial exploration of the first element theorised as needed to achieve equilibrium.  

In this work from ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020), images of butterfly wings, one of Hirst’s best-known motifs, are arranged into complicated and precise patterns. Indeed, these patterns and the palettes of the wings reflect its namesake element. ‘Earth’ is characterised by a mandala-like form reminiscent of the growth rings of an ancient tree, built up in rich, deep browns, blacks, and softening beiges and greys, lifted by terracotta orange and blood red accents.   

Humanity’s fundamental and primordial relationship to the element of earth is often characterised as maternal. Earth is itself a source of new life which provides us with physical and spiritual nourishment, and is represented here as a delicate, yet solid, network of butterfly wings. Our ongoing reliance on this element is reflected in Hirst’s own fascination with the complex relationships between nature, science and religion. He himself has said, “[pills] come out of flowers, plants, things from the ground, and they make you feel good”. 

Earth

Named after earth, air, fire and water, Damien Hirst’s ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020) is a pictorial exploration of the ancient theory that the universe was composed of these four elements, which were required to remain in perfect equilibrium to achieve peace, balance humours and ensure the free flowing of spiritual energy. 

Air, the least tangible of the four elements believed necessary to achieve equilibrium, has an often understated significance. It is an invisible yet powerful force which has been tied for centuries to notions of hidden knowledge, fate, spirituality and other imperceptible forces that play a hand in our world.  

In Damien Hirst’s visualisation of ‘Air’ from ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020) he presents a serene kaleidoscope of pale images butterfly wings, a stoic and serene composition that evokes calm and deep contemplation. Its billowing pattern, evocative of a flower with many petals, is created using wings of various soft blue and lilac hues, with others in creams and whites.   

Utilising images of butterflies, one of his best-known motifs, through ‘Air’ Hirst reaches back in time to the beliefs of early medicine in the power of the elements and brought those beliefs into the present day to question our contemporary view of sickness and health, of life and death. For him, butterflies are laden with meaning, extending across time and geography to encompass the ideas such as the very notions of life and death themselves.  

Celebrated in historical myths from Prometheus to Moses, fire is an element held at the very heart of the human condition; it is a symbol of creativity and destruction, energy and power, passion and anger. Fire destroys indiscriminately and forges new life from the ashes. This concept of rebirth has long been explored by Damien Hirst through the motif of the butterfly, and is presented in ‘Fire’ from his ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020) series in a chaotic explosion of energy and light. 

In Hirst’s pictorial visualisation of the element of fire, the pattern and colour palette of the print reflect its namesake element. ‘Fire’, constructed around a single plane of symmetry at the centre of the image, features strong yellow, black and bright orange colours that burst diagonally in opposite directions from the bottom of the image, as if two flames captured in their brief moment of existence. 

Utilising images of butterflies, one of his best-known motifs, through ‘Fire’ Hirst reaches back in time to the beliefs of early medicine in the power of the elements and brought those beliefs into the present day to question our contemporary view of sickness and health, of life and death. For him, butterflies are laden with meaning, extending across time and geography to encompass the ideas such as the very notions of life and death themselves.  

Fire

The element of water has long been associated with our tendencies towards introspection, often symbolising dreams, memories and the desire for change. Damien Hirst captures these connotations in ‘Water’, a calming and beautiful print from his series ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020) 

Water has appeared in similar symbolic guises throughout Hirst’s oeuvre, firstly in the 1990s via sharks and fish suspended in formaldehyde and later as a site of alchemical transformation in his project ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’. In ‘Water’, Hirst utilises his butterfly motif, deploying images of disembodied wings into patterns and in colours that reflect its namesake elements. The concentric circles emanate outwards from a central, jewel-like butterfly, akin to ripples on a still lake, in ‘Water’, where a vibrant royal blue background and black, turquoise, purple and white wings recall the colours of a deep lagoon.  

Utilising images of butterflies, one of his best-known motifs, through ‘Water’ Hirst reaches back in time to the beliefs of early medicine in the power of the elements and brought those beliefs into the present day to question our contemporary view of sickness and health, of life and death. For him, butterflies are laden with meaning, extending across time and geography to encompass the ideas such as the very notions of life and death themselves.  

Water

In Damien Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Rainbow’ he combines the rainbow, a symbol of support for the NHS in Britain throughout the pandemic, with butterflies, one of his best‐known motifs.  

One of four prints from Hirst’s ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7, 2020), this artwork is digitally composed of photographed butterfly wings assembled on a rainbow-shaped aluminium composite panel into bands of colour, their puzzle‐like compositions recollective of his ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ (begun in 2001). Ranging from yellow wings that nearly fade into the background to bold blue wings rendered with practically scientific detail, Hirst’s perennial love for butterflies and attention to their multitudinous forms is distinctly present. 

‘Butterfly Rainbow’, produced in support of the British NHS Charities Together during the COVID-19 response effort, evokes memories of the cheerful rainbows and hearts displayed in windows and chalk drawn on streets across Britain at the time. In fusing this imagery with his iconic butterfly motif, Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Rainbow’ emerges as an undeniable symbol for hope.   

Butterfly Rainbow (Large)

In the spring of 2020 at a time of great fear, isolation and devastation, Damien Hirst released ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7), a hopeful series of rainbow butterfly prints. A charity fundraiser in support of the COVID-19 response effort, ‘Rainbow Editions’ fuses Hirst’s iconic butterfly motif with the rainbow, what became in Britain a symbol for peace, support of the NHS and collective strength. 

In Damien Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Rainbow (Small)’ he combines the rainbow, a symbol of support of the NHS in Britain throughout the pandemic, with butterflies, one of his best‐known motifs.  

One of four prints from Hirst’s ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7, 2020), this artwork is digitally composed of photographed butterfly wings assembled on a rainbow-shaped aluminium composite panel into bands of colour, their puzzle‐like compositions recollective of his ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ (begun in 2001). Ranging from the yellow wings that nearly fade into the background to the bold blue wings rendered with practically scientific detail, Hirst’s perennial love for butterflies and attention to their multitudinous forms is distinctly present. 

‘Butterfly Rainbow (Small)’, produced in support of the British NHS Charities Together during the COVID-19 response effort, evokes memories of the cheerful rainbows and hearts displayed in windows and chalk drawn on streets across Britain at the time. In fusing this imagery with his iconic butterfly motif, Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Rainbow (Small)’ emerges as an undeniable symbol for hope.   

Butterfly Rainbow (Small)

In Damien Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Heart’ he combines the rainbow, a symbol of support for the NHS in Britain throughout the pandemic, with butterflies, one of his best‐known motifs.  

One of four prints from Hirst’s ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7, 2020), this artwork is digitally composed of photographed butterfly wings assembled on a heart-shaped aluminium composite panel into bands of colour, their puzzle‐like compositions recollective of his ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ (begun in 2001). Ranging from the yellow wings that nearly fade into the background to the bold blue wings rendered with practically scientific detail, Hirst’s perennial love for butterflies and attention to their multitudinous forms is distinctly present. 

‘Butterfly Heart’, produced in support of The Felix Project during the COVID-19 response effort, evokes memories of the cheerful rainbows and hearts displayed in windows and chalk drawn on streets across Britain at the time. In fusing this imagery with his iconic butterfly motif, Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Rainbow’ emerges as an undeniable symbol for hope.   

Butterfly Heart (Large)

In Damien Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Heart (Small)’ he combines the rainbow, a symbol of support for the NHS in Britain throughout the pandemic, with butterflies, one of Hirst’s best‐known motifs.  

One of four prints from Hirst’s ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7, 2020), this artwork is digitally composed of photographed butterfly wings assembled on a heart-shaped aluminium composite panel into bands of colour, their puzzle‐like compositions recollective of his ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ (begun in 2001). Ranging from the yellow wings that nearly fade into the background to the bold blue wings rendered with practically scientific detail, Hirst’s perennial love for butterflies and attention to their multitudinous forms is distinctly present. 

‘Butterfly Heart (Small)’, produced in support of The Felix Project during the COVID-19 response effort, evokes memories of the cheerful rainbows and hearts displayed in windows and chalk drawn on streets across Britain at the time. In fusing this imagery with his iconic butterfly motif, Hirst’s ‘Butterfly Heart (Small)’ emerges as an undeniable symbol for hope.   

Butterfly Heart (Small)

Hypnotically thick impasto in delightfully garish hues define Damien Hirst’s ‘Fruitful’ (H8-1, 2020), a limited edition print illustrating abstract details from his painting series ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20). Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. On the edge of abstraction and figuration, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ see Hirst combine elements of gestural painting in his thick brushstrokes with more traditional techniques. 

In ‘Fruitful’, an abstract paint passage from one of Hirst’s towering ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases is enlarged, the dynamic swaths of white, pink and green paint zoomed in for our microscopic study. Set against a black background, the heavy impasto is pulled across the frame and the exceedingly viscous material curls and bends as if alive, the colours meeting and overlapping. Humorous in its ability to trick any viewer desperate to touch the bubble gum-like brushes of paint, ‘Fruitful’ encourages up close inspection of Hirst’s painterly techniques as viewers immerse themselves in his wonderous world of colour. 

Produced in 2020 in partnership with the Fondazione Prada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support schoolchildren in Italy, the fantastically tactile and vibrantly coloured ‘Fruitful’ is a reminder of the joy and beauty around us.  

Fruitful

Derived from his immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ paintings (2018-20), Damien Hirst’s ‘Fruitful & Forever’ (H8, 2020) series brings viewers up close to the personalities of his delectably tactile swathes of colourful paint. Composed of a series of four laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels, ‘Fruitful & Forever’ captures two passages of bright, abstracted details from the painting series, both produced in a small and large version.  

Hypnotically thick impasto in delightfully garish hues define Damien Hirst’s ‘Fruitful (Small)’ (H8-2, 2020), a limited edition print illustrating abstract details from his painting series ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20). Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. On the edge of abstraction and figuration, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ see Hirst combine elements of gestural painting in his thick brushstrokes with more traditional techniques. 

In ‘Fruitful (Small)’, an abstract paint passage from one of Hirst’s towering ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases is enlarged, the dynamic swaths of white, pink and green paint zoomed in for our microscopic study. Set against a black background, the heavy impasto is pulled across the frame and the exceedingly viscous material curls and bends as if alive, the colours meeting and overlapping. Humorous in its ability to trick any viewer desperate to touch the bubble gum-like brushes of paint, ‘Fruitful (Small)’ encourages up close inspection of Hirst’s painterly techniques as viewers immerse themselves in his wonderous world of colour. 

Produced in 2020 in partnership with the Fondazione Prada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support schoolchildren in Italy, the fantastically tactile and vibrantly coloured ‘Fruitful (Small)’ is a reminder of the joy and beauty around us.  

Hypnotically thick impasto in delightfully garish hues define Damien Hirst’s ‘Forever’ (H8-3, 2020), a limited edition print illustrating abstract details from his painting series ‘Cherry Blossom’ (2018-20). Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. On the edge of abstraction and figuration, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ see Hirst combine elements of gestural painting in his thick brushstrokes with more traditional techniques. 

In ‘Forever’, an abstract paint passage from one of Hirst’s towering ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases is enlarged, the dynamic swaths garish paint ranging from blue to pink are zoomed in for our microscopic study. Spots, recollective of Hirst’s iconic motif, diverge from the artist’s once symmetrical and evenly coloured forms, permitting the material here to execute its own agency. Curling, puckering, falling and flowing into neighbouring bursts of colour, ‘Forever’ is packed with action, tactility and intrigue. Humorous in its ability to trick any viewer desperate to touch the bubble gum-like brushes of paint, ‘Forever’ allows viewers to inspect up close Hirst’s painterly techniques and immerse themselves in his wonderous world of viscous colour. 

Produced in 2020 in partnership with the Fondazione Prada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support schoolchildren in Italy, the fantastically tactile and vibrantly coloured ‘Forever’ is a reminder of the joy and beauty around us.  

Forever

Hypnotically thick impasto in delightfully garish hues define Damien Hirst’s ‘Forever’ (H8-3, 2020), a limited edition print illustrating abstract details from his painting series ‘Cherry Blossom’ (2018-20). Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. On the edge of abstraction and figuration, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ see Hirst combine elements of gestural painting in his thick brushstrokes with more traditional techniques. 

Hypnotically thick impasto in delightfully garish hues define Damien Hirst’s ‘Forever (Small)’ (H8-4, 2020), a limited edition print illustrating abstract details from his painting series ‘Cherry Blossom’ (2018-20). Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. On the edge of abstraction and figuration, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ see Hirst combine elements of gestural painting in his thick brushstrokes with more traditional techniques. 

In ‘Forever (Small)’, an abstract paint passage from one of Hirst’s towering ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases is enlarged, the dynamic swaths garish paint ranging from blue to pink are zoomed in for our microscopic study. Spots, recollective of Hirst’s iconic motif, diverge from the artist’s once symmetrical and evenly coloured forms, permitting the material here to execute its own agency. Curling, puckering, falling and flowing into neighbouring bursts of colour, ‘Forever (Small)’ is packed with action, tactility and intrigue. Humorous in its ability to trick any viewer desperate to touch the bubble gum-like brushes of paint, ‘Forever (Small)’ allows viewers to inspect up close Hirst’s painterly techniques and immerse themselves in his wonderous world of viscous colour. 

Produced in 2020 in partnership with the Fondazione Prada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic to support schoolchildren in Italy, the fantastically tactile and vibrantly coloured ‘Forever (Small)’ is a reminder of the joy and beauty around us.  

Hypnotically thick impasto in delightfully garish hues define Damien Hirst’s ‘Forever (Small)’ (H8-4, 2020), a limited edition print illustrating abstract details from his painting series ‘Cherry Blossom’ (2018-20). Depicting blossom trees in full bloom, the series is inspired by the work of Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent Van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. On the edge of abstraction and figuration, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ see Hirst combine elements of gestural painting in his thick brushstrokes with more traditional techniques. 

Named for the first of Nitobe Inazō’s Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, Damien Hirst’s ‘Justice’ is a tactile and beautiful celebration of colour. Produced in 2021 as the first print in Hirst’s ‘The Virtues’ (H9) series, each work captures a “garish, messy and fragile” detail from one of his monumental ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) canvases.  

Playing on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception, ‘Justice’ reveals a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvas, insinuating that viewers are seeing the tree through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. It captures against a deep blue background thick, white spots and rainbow of “flashes” of paint climbing up the sprawling tree branches. The bubble gum-like petals cover only portions of the tree, the naked branches evocative of petals that have already fallen, anticipating more to shortly follow suit.  

‘Justice’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour. 

Justice

In 2021, Damien unveiled ‘The Virtues’ (H9), his second print series after his “garish and messy and fragile” ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) paintings. The monumental canvases have been translated here into a vivid series of eight laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels which captures the ephemeral, colourful blooms on sprawling tree branches. 

Described as one of the “qualities of the soul”, and a virtue that is exemplified through a state of tranquillity, Courage is both the second of Nitobe Inazō’s Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, and of Damien Hirst’s “garish, messy and fragile” prints from his ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) series. 

‘Courage’ captures a detail from one of Hirst’s immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) canvases. A composition, monumental in size, is scaled down to both offer an up-close view of the artist’s practice and further play on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception. In ‘Courage’ is a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvas, insinuating that viewers are seeing the composition through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. It captures against a light blue background, thick, white and pink spots which are accompanied by a rainbow of “flashes” of paint. Together, these spot-like petals climb up the sprawling tree branches. At times the bubble gum-like petals hover in space, apparently frozen in time as they fall to the ground.  

‘Courage’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour.   

Courage

In 2021, Damien unveiled ‘The Virtues’ (H9), his second print series after his “garish and messy and fragile” ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) paintings. The monumental canvases have been translated here into a vivid series of eight laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels which captures the ephemeral, colourful blooms on sprawling tree branches.   

Damien Hirst’s ‘Mercy’ evokes the artist’s characterisation of his ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) painting series as “garish, messy and fragile”. The third work from his ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) print series, ‘Mercy’ is named for the tender third virtue of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics. As described by Nitobe Inazō, Mercy is “the feeling of distress, love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity”. 

Hirst’s ‘Mercy’ fixates on a single passage from one of his monumental ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases, scaling it down to offer viewers an intimate look into the very details of the image and the artist’s painting practice. Indeed, it also constitutes an investigation into the limits and possibilities of human perception: it insinuates that viewers are perhaps seeing the composition through a window or from inside the tree itself. 

Set against a light blue background, white spots, constructed through heavy, tactile impasto, crawl across the branches, joined by “flashes” of other colours like pinks, blues and yellows. Painted with a distinct vitality, ‘Mercy’ appears to oscillate between abstraction and figuration, life and death. While the petals are reminiscent of Abstract Expressionist action, the tree branches are much truer to their natural form, and indeed while petals are portrayed falling to the ground, alluding to the transient nature of the blossom, the bubble gum-like, sensuous and vibrantly coloured petals undeniably evoke joy and vitality.  

According to Nitobe Inazō, at the centre of Politeness, one of the Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, is modesty, compliance and respect for others' feelings. It imparts grace onto manners and acts as an elegant expression of sympathy. That is, Politeness requires one to “weep with those who weep and rejoice with those who rejoice” It is after this virtue that Damien Hirst named his fourth work from his ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) series. 

“Garish, messy and fragile”, ‘Politeness’ captures a detail from one of Hirst’s immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) canvases. A composition, monumental in size, is scaled down to both offer an up-close view of the artist’s practice and to further play on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception. In ‘Politeness’ is a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvas only partially viewed, insinuating that viewers are seeing the composition through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. It captures against a vibrant blue background, thick spots rendered like a rainbow of “flashes” of paint which climb up the sprawling tree branches. Sparsely populating the branches, at times the bubble gum-like petals hover in space, apparently frozen in time as they fall to the ground.  

‘Politeness’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour.   

Politeness

Named for the fifth of Nitobe Inazō’s Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, Damien Hirst’s ‘Honesty’ is a tactile and beautiful celebration of colour. Produced in 2021 as the first print in Hirst’s ‘The Virtues’ series, each work captures a “garish, messy and fragile” detail from one of his monumental canvases from his ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) series.  

Playing on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception, ‘Honesty’ reveals a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvas, insinuating that viewers are seeing the composition through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. It captures against a light blue background, an avalanche of thick, white spots interrupted by a rainbow of “flashes” of paint which climb up the sprawling tree branches. The bubble gum-like petals cover only portions of the tree, at times falling to reveal the naked branches, evoking petals that have already fallen and anticipating more to shortly follow suit.  

‘Honesty’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour.   

Honesty

Damien Hirst’s ‘Honour’ evokes the artist’s characterisation of his ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) painting series as “garish, messy and fragile”. The sixth work from his ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) print series, ‘Honour’ is named for the sixth and highly prized virtue of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics. As described by Nitobe Inazō, Honour is to have a “vivid consciousness of personal dignity and worth”. 

Hirst’s ‘Honour’ fixates on a single passage from one of his monumental ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases, scaling it down to offer viewers an intimate look into the very details of the image and the artist’s painting practice. Indeed, it also constitutes an investigation into the limits and possibilities of human perception: it insinuates that viewers are perhaps seeing the composition through a window or from inside the tree itself. 

Set against a bright blue background, white and pink spots, constructed through heavy, tactile impasto, crawl across the branches, joined by “flashes” of other colours like greens, purples and yellows. Painted with a distinct vitality, ‘Honour’ appears to oscillate between abstraction and figuration, life and death. While the petals are reminiscent of Abstract Expressionist action, the tree branches are much truer to their natural form and indeed while the nakedness of the tree and the falling petals allude to the transient nature of the blossom, the bubble gum-like, sensuous and vibrantly coloured petals undeniably evoke joy and vitality.  

Honour

According to Nitobe Inazō, Loyalty, one of the Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, was the most distinctive virtue, conceiving that the state exists before the individual. It is after this virtue that Damien Hirst named his fourth work from his ‘The Virtue’ (H9, 2021) series. 

“Garish, messy and fragile”, ‘Loyalty’ captures a detail from one of Hirst’s immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) canvases. A composition, monumental in size, is scaled down to both offer an up-close view of the artist’s practice and to further play on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception. In ‘Loyalty’ is a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossom’ canvas only partially viewed, insinuating that viewers are seeing the composition through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. Its composition is densely populated by tree branches set against a vibrant blue background. However, the branches are sparsely populated by thick spots rendered like a rainbow of “flashes” of painted, bubble gum-like petals, which, at times, hover in space, apparently frozen in time as they fall to the ground.  

‘Loyalty’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour.   

Loyalty

Described as the “discipline of disciplines”, which advocates against displaying emotion, be it joy or anger, Control is both the last of Nitobe Inazō’s Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, and the eighth print from Damien Hirst’s “garish, messy and fragile” series, ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) series. 

‘Control’ captures a detail from one of Hirst’s immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) canvases. A composition, monumental in size, is scaled down to both offer an up-close view of the artist’s practice and to further play on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception. In ‘Courage’ is a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossom’ canvas only partially viewed, insinuating that viewers are seeing the composition through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. It captures against a light blue background, thick, tactile, bubble gum-like and vibrantly coloured painted spots climbing up the sprawling tree branches. Its petals, at times appearing more like dynamic splashes of paint than flowers, hover in space, seemingly frozen in time as they fall to the ground.  

‘Control’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour.   

Control

Rife with symbolism and with a hexagonal composition at its centre, ‘Wu Zetian’ is named for the ruthless yet successful Chinese ruler. In 655 CE Wu Zetian (624-705 CE) married Emperor Gaozong and became empress, much to the dismay of many statesmen who she soon eliminated in an infamous reign of terror that she maintained over the innermost circles of government. Despite the politics and violence within, Wu Zetian proved to be a competent leader, creating stability and consolidating the Tang Dynasty at a time when it appeared to be crumbling.  

At the centre of ‘Wu Zetian’ is a single pair of butterfly wings, which is surrounded by a concentric circle of paired wings. This arrangement blossoms into a dynamic and symmetrical hexagonal formation which has an arrangement of three pairs of wings within each point. This reliance on the number six to establish the composition recalls its reappearance across Chinese idioms to denote good will, installing six as a lucky number. The number gains additional significance as it relates to the hexagon, which in China evokes the six directions (North, South, East, West, Heaven and Earth) and therefore represents completeness, harmony and balance. These associations also recall the story of Wu Zetian whose intelligence, courage and decisiveness brought stability to her empire.  

Beautifully outlined with brilliant red wings, the four corners of the picture plane are filled with further arrangements of single or paired wings. The clever transitions between compositional structures in ‘Wu Zetian’ lend a captivating complexity to the work that leaves it apparently ever-changing, imparting into the work a sense of movement. Effectively, the composition infuses the print with the sensation that the butterflies are indeed alive and are billowing out into the space of the viewer.   
In ‘Nūr Jahān’, single or paired wings in various sizes and striking hues of red and black are arranged into perfectly symmetrical patterns. The wings emanate out from the centre vertically, horizontally and diagonally to create entrancing kaleidoscope-like patterns. The focal square composition appears to enshrine the central pair of wings, with the surrounding arrangements of wings seemingly receding and therefore directing the eye to its centre. This intricate, tectonic organisation recalls the architectural efforts of Nūr Jahān and the glorious mosaic tiles that adorn the Agra tomb.  

The arrangement of ‘Nūr Jahān’ is in a constant state of transformation – new passages of patterns of extraordinary wings are revealed the longer it is studied and the more the viewer changes their position before it. Such is true of the large black and red pairs of wings that encircle the composition at its outer edge, alternately arranged to create an uneven frame. In doing so, Hirst infuses into this orderly composition a sense of vitality, that these butterflies are captured in a moment of variously directional flight. 

Wu Zetian

‘The Empresses’ (H-10, 2022) marks a new iteration in Damien Hirst’s exploration of the butterfly as a symbol for freedom, religion, life and death. A series of five laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite, screen printed with glitter, each print depicts images of red and black butterfly wings, arranged into a unique kaleidoscope-like pattern. The carefully positioned wings appear mobile and their patterns transform, each print seeming to capture the butterflies in moments of variously directional flight.  

‘Nūr Jahān’, defined by complex mosaic-like arrangements and a structural composition, is named after the multi-skilled de-facto empress of the Mughal Empire. In 1611 Nūr Jahān (1577-1645) became Emperor Jahāngīr’s 20th wife, but not officially his empress. Nonetheless, she exerted her influence on the empire, minting coins in her name and issuing royal decrees. A great diplomat, a skilled hunter and a successful advisor, Nūr Jahān was also a talented architect – her designs for her parent’s tomb in Agra are believed to have inspired the Taj Mahal.   

In ‘Nūr Jahān’, single or paired wings in various sizes and striking hues of red and black are arranged into perfectly symmetrical patterns. The wings emanate out from the centre vertically, horizontally and diagonally to create entrancing kaleidoscope-like patterns. The focal square composition appears to enshrine the central pair of wings, with the surrounding arrangements of wings seemingly receding and therefore directing the eye to its centre. This intricate, tectonic organisation recalls the architectural efforts of Nūr Jahān and the glorious mosaic tiles that adorn the Agra tomb.  

The arrangement of ‘Nūr Jahān’ is in a constant state of transformation – new passages of patterns of extraordinary wings are revealed the longer it is studied and the more the viewer changes their position before it. Such is true of the large black and red pairs of wings that encircle the composition at its outer edge, alternately arranged to create an uneven frame. In doing so, Hirst infuses into this orderly composition a sense of vitality, that these butterflies are captured in a moment of variously directional flight. 

Nūr Jahān

Extraordinarily complex and dynamic, ‘Theodora’ is named for the great Byzantine empress who used her intelligence and savvy to create lasting change in the empire. Born into the lowest class of Byzantine society, Theodora (497-548 CE) rose to power in 527 CE following her marriage to Emperor Justinian. She left a significant impact on the region, namely through implementing new religious and social policies. Indeed, Theodora’s power over the empire left many to wonder if it was her and not Justinian that ruled.   

In ‘Theodora’ various hues of red and black butterfly wings assemble into an intriguing asymmetrical pattern, the only one of its kind from the series. Lines of glittering red, noticeable only at proximity, symmetrically sections the composition vertically in half, as well as divides it horizontally into thirds and establishes a circle in the upper half of the print. The lower horizontal band, the circle and the vertical line are the most prominent, creating a formation reminiscent of the female gender symbol. Such recalls some of Theodora’s landmark policies that benefited women, including prohibiting the trafficking of girls and amending divorce laws to give women more rights.  

With the wings arranged in pairs or singularly across the work, ‘Theodora’ stands out for its degree of organised chaos. The result of the carefully composed asymmetrical composition is the visual sensation that these wings are not lifeless specimens arranged for the viewer’s aesthetic pleasure but insects vibrating with life, captured zooming across (and perceivably beyond) the picture plane.  

Theodora

‘Suiko’, a composition which evokes life in many ways, is titled after the first recorded empress of Japan. Though legend says that several females had ruled before Suiko (554-628 CE), her rise to power after her brother Sushun was murdered in 592 CE marked a break with tradition of installing male rulers. Suiko is remembered for the Chinese and Korean influences she brought to the country, including the implementation of the Chinese calendar, the arrival of Chinese and Korean craftsmen, and, perhaps most notably, the establishment of Buddhism.  

In ‘Suiko’, variously sized paired wings emanate from the work’s centre, producing a symmetrical concentric circle, a compositional arrangement that recalls Buddhist symbolism and the life cycle. This circular pattern is strikingly defined by glittering lines of red that diagonally cross the composition from the centre to meet each corner. With the wings set against a red background, the lines shoot through the pairs of disembodied wings where the bodies once existed.  

As is true of each work from the series, ‘Suiko’ appears in a constant state of transformation, the butterflies moving and evolving the longer one stands before the work. While the intricacies can be truly appreciated up close to the print, from afar the composition takes on a new life. From this vantage point, ‘Suiko’ reveals itself to have a ballooning arrangement of wings, which are organised around the central pattern of concentric circles and complimented by external arrangements of further wings. This arrangement is akin to a biological or molecular structure, evocative of the organisms that it depicts.    

Suiko

‘The Empresses’ (H-10, 2022) marks a new iteration in Damien Hirst’s exploration of the butterfly as a symbol for freedom, religion, life and death. A series of five laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite, screen printed with glitter, each print depicts images of red and black butterfly wings, arranged into a unique kaleidoscope-like pattern. The carefully positioned wings appear mobile and their patterns transform, each print seeming to capture the butterflies in moments of variously directional flight.

A composition that is infused with an exhilarating sense of speed and movement, ‘Taytu Betul’ is named after the fierce empress of Ethiopia. Upon her marriage to Emperor Menelik, in 1889 Taytu Betul (c. 1851-1918) became empress of Ethiopia. She was anything but a passive ruler, unequivocally resistant to imperialism and staunchly opposed to any negotiations that would result in a loss of Ethiopian territory. During her reign, Taytu Betul also founded Addis Ababa, which remains Ethiopia’s capital city today.  

‘Taytu Betul’ immediately draws the eye to the red and black pairs of wings that form the basis of the composition: the spiral. It begins at the centre of the work and moves outward, apparently past the picture plane. The momentum that develops as this composition progresses echoes the passion and physical dedication of Taytu Betul who was at the head of her army as they went to war to defend their borders. These wings are complimented by additional arrangements of variously sized, coloured and patterned wings, which form a sort of secondary backdrop to the central action of the work.  

‘Taytu Betul’ stands out from the series for its vigorous attempt to capture the butterflies in their true living form. With the composition resembling an aerial view, the print allows viewers to look downward as the momentum of this pack of butterflies is captured in the spiral and dynamic development of the composition.

Taytu Betul

The prints provide an extraordinary new perspective on The Currency collection, using extremely high-resolution images to focus in on singular details of the painted works. Each print is unique, hand-numbered and hand-signed on the front by Damien Hirst.

The Currency Unique Prints

These 1,000 unique prints show close-up details from The Currency artworks by Damien Hirst.

Hand-signed and hand-numbered on the front

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13\. The HENI Group will retain Personal Data for at least the length of time required for the specific purposes for which it is processed, as set out in this Privacy Notice, and for such additional periods as are required by law or in order to ensure best practice (including effective back-up systems).

14\. We will take all reasonable care, in so far as it is in our power to do so, to keep your Personal Data, and the details of your orders and payments secure, but in the absence of proven negligence on our part we cannot be held liable for any loss you may suffer if a third party procures unauthorised access to any Personal Data we process on your behalf.

## Processing and disclosure of your Personal Data

15\. The HENI Group will process your Personal Data for the following purposes or as otherwise set out in this Privacy Notice, on the basis that such processing is in our and/or your legitimate interests:

• for the purposes of negotiating or performing any contracts entered into between you, or some company to which you are affiliated, and any HENI Group business;

• to address any correspondence, comments or enquires made by you;

• to allow you to participate in interactive features on our websites, should you choose to do so, and to provide the services you request;

• to email you with HENI Group invites, newsletters and/or suggestions about products, services or content that may be of interest to you, where we have a legitimate interest to do so in compliance with data protection and privacy law and/or where you provided your consent. However, you may stop such notifications at any time by contacting our customer services team by emailing the relevant Data Controller email address(es) above using the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line or otherwise by opting out of the particular email in the manner described;

• for the effective management of the HENI Group of businesses in accordance with our legitimate interests, such as in group structuring and management, engaging suppliers, generating surveys and statistics, measuring performance and website usage, implementing service improvement and marketing plans, etc;

• disclosing your Personal Data to third parties outside the HENI Group of businesses for the purposes stated above, including on your behalf or in order to enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of HENI Group businesses and our personnel, customers, or others. This may include exchanging information with other organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction; and

• disclosing your Personal Data to any HENI Group business or affiliate, which means our subsidiaries, any ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, or any affiliated person or business. In the event that the relevant Data Controller, as identified above, or its assets, are acquired by a third party, Personal Data held by us may also be one of the transferred assets.

• for the purpose of creating video footage and photos of artworks.

• disclosing your Personal Data to third parties outside the HENI Group of businesses for provenance and/or authentication purposes in relation to artworks sold on any Heni Group website.

• disclosing your Personal Data to named third-party organisations for marketing purposes, where we have your consent to do so, for example, if you ticked the relevant opt-in box on our websites or when contacted. In these instances, we will supply your Personal Data to the specific organisation(s) only.

16\. The HENI Group may also process your Personal Data, including disclosing such Personal Data to third parties, as required by virtue of any legal, regulatory or other obligation. For example, the HENI Group of businesses will from time to time be required to disclose Personal Data to external law firms, accountants and auditors, insurance brokers and underwriters.

17\. The HENI Group will process Personal Data in the course of receiving payments from our clients and customers, and when making payments to such persons and to other third parties. The payment methods used will include bank transfers (which will require account names, numbers and sort codes, and possibly other information) and debit or credit card transactions (though note that we do not retain card information and payments via card will be processed securely in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (PCI DSS) to protect sensitive cardholder data by a payment services provider in accordance with paragraph 17 of this Policy).

18\. Financial transactions through all HENI Group websites will be handled through a payment services provider, for example Stripe or PayPal, with which you will deal directly. You can review the Stripe Privacy Notice at stripe.com. PayPal Privacy Notice at paypal.com. We shall share Personal Data with such payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments, and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments.

## Where we store and transfer your Personal Data

19\. The Personal Data which HENI collect from you and which we process for the purposes set out above may be transferred outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) where appropriate and necessary in accordance with our legitimate interests. Personal Data may also be processed by HENI Group staff, or for one of our suppliers or agents, operating outside the EEA. Such persons or entities maybe engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your orders, the processing of your payment details or the provision of support services.

20\. If and when making such transfers outside the EEA we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your Personal Data is managed securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice and relevant data protection law.

## Cookies Policy

21\. By visiting and interacting with any HENI Group website to which this Privacy Notice applies, you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with this policy and the relevant website Terms of Use.

22\. Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer or internet-enabled portable device by the websites you visit. They are used to make websites work and to improve their efficiency, as well as to provide website usage information to the website owner. Cookies contain information such as the time that the current visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the website before and what site referred the visitor to the web page.

23\. HENI Group websites use cookies to distinguish you from other users of the site, in order to help us to improve your user experience. Some cookies are essential for the functionality of the website and allow features to work correctly. Other cookies may collect information about how visitors interact with our site, for instance to show which pages are viewed mostly frequently.

24\. Google Analytics: we use this web analytics tool to anonymously track usage statistics to help us improve the user experience of our site. Like many services, Google Analytics uses first-party cookies to track visitor interactions as in our case, where they are used to collect information about how visitors use our site. We then use the information to compile reports and to help us improve our website. Google Analytics collects information anonymously; it reports website trends without identifying individual visitors. You can opt out of Google Analytics without affecting how you visit our site – for more information on opting out of being tracked by Google Analytics across all websites you use, visit this Google page: https://tools.google.com/dlpage/gaoptout.

25\. Vimeo cookies: HENI Talks embed videos from the official Vimeo channel. This channel may set cookies on your computer when you use the Vimeo service or visit a webpage with a Vimeo video. Some of the cookies will only be used if you use certain features or select certain preferences and some cookies will always be used. For more information on Vimeo’s cookie policy visit:[https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy](https://vimeo.com/cookie_policy).

26\. Twitter cookies: HENI Talks also embed a Twitter feed on our press page to show the latest tweets between us and our viewers. If you click through to Twitter they may use both session cookies and persistent cookies to better understand how you interact with their service. For more information on Twitter’s cookie policy visit: [https://twitter.com/en/privacy](https://twitter.com/en/privacy).

## Variations to this Privacy Notice

27\. We may vary the terms of this Privacy Notice from time-to-time. Please check this webpage regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version as your Personal Data is subject to the Privacy Notice in effect at the time when you provided that information.

28\. This Privacy Notice will be governed by and construed in accordance with English law, and any disputes relating to this notice shall be subject to the exclusive jurisdiction of the courts of England.

Privacy Policy

**1\. This Privacy Notice and Your Rights**

This Privacy Notice describes how HENI Tech LLC (referred to as “Heni”,“we”,“us”or “our” in this Privacy Notice) processes personally identifiable information through your use of the websites, products and services we make available to you (together the “Services”). By using the Services, you agree to be bound by the terms of this Privacy Notice, which also includes our Cookies Policy (see below).

HENI Tech LLC is the controller and is responsible for the collection, processing and use of your Personal Data (as defined below). If you have any questions about this Privacy Notice , please contact us at: terms@heni.com.

It is important that you read this Privacy Notice together with any other privacy policy or fair processing policy we may provide on specific occasions when we are collecting or processing Personal Data (as defined below) about you so that you are fully aware of how and why we are using your data. This Privacy Notice supplements other notices and privacy policies made available by us. In the event of a conflict, the terms of this Privacy Notice shall apply.

To review the relevant privacy notices of any other group company or affiliated entities in the HENI Group of businesses (“HENI Group”) please review the relevant website or contact us for further information.

If you are using the Services from the European Union (“EU”) or the United Kingdom (“UK”), see our Notice to EU and UK data subjects in section 5 below for our legal bases for processing and transfer of your Personal Data.

**2\. Personal Data We may Collect From You**

When you want to register with, apply to purchase or make purchases through our websites to which this Privacy Notice applies (collectively, the “Website”) or when you subscribe to receive newsletters or notifications, post comments on the Website or contact us using the ‘contact’ form on our Website, or correspond with us by email, post, telephone or any other method, we may ask you to provide and may collect personally identifiable information from you, such as your first and last name, e-mail address, billing address, shipping address, telephone number, product selections, and payment information. We may also collect:

• Your wallet address or other information related to your digital wallet that may be considered Personal Data under certain data privacy laws; and

• Information required to comply with anti-money laundering (“AML”) laws and know-your-customer (“KYC”) requirements (including, but not limited to, your photographic identity, nationality, date of birth, address and place of birth);

We may also collect information about you as you navigate through and interact with our Service, including, but not limited to the URL of the website you visited prior to accessing our Website, IP addresses, your browser type, Ethereum address, wallet type, application programming interface (API)-key, network information regarding transactions the country and telephone area code where your computer is located, the pages of our Website that were viewed during your visit, and cookies and other data analytics described in Section 6 below. We may collect this information even if you do not register with us.

We may receive personally identifiable information about you from publicly-available records or from other sources, including other affiliates of the HENI Group that offer their products and/or services on our Service. In particular, MetaMask and other wallets provide us with your Ethereum address and certain other information you choose to share with MetaMask and other wallets. These third party companies may supply us with Personal Data. We may add this to the information we have already collected from you via our Service in order to improve it.

The personally identifiable information described in this Section is referred to in this Privacy Policy as “Personal Data”.

**3\. Security of your Personal Data**

We will treat all your Personal Data as confidential and will only disclose it to third parties outside the HENI Group in accordance with this Privacy Notice. We will keep Personal Data secure as necessary to comply with all applicable data protection and consumer protection requirements.

We will retain Personal Data for at least the length of time required for the specific purposes for which it is processed, as set out in this Privacy Notice, or in order to ensure best practices (including, for example, maintaining effective backup systems) and for such additional periods as necessary to comply with applicable laws.

**4\. Processing and disclosure of your Personal Data**

We will process your Personal Data for the following purposes or as otherwise set out in this Privacy Notice:

• to process your application to make purchases through our Website;

• to facilitate the creation of and secure your account on our Website;

• for the purposes of negotiating or performing any contracts entered into between you, or some company to which you are affiliated, and Heni;

• as required by virtue of any legal, regulatory or other obligation such as to comply with AML and KYC requirements;

• to address any correspondence, comments or enquires made by you;

• to allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website, should you choose to do so, and provide the Services you request, including but not limited to facilitating your cryptocurrency transactions through MetaMask or other wallets that may be available to use with our Services;

• to email you with HENI Group invites, newsletters and/or suggestions about products, services or content that may be of interest to you. However, you may stop such notifications at any time by contacting our customer services team by emailing our email address(es) using the word “unsubscribe” in the subject line or otherwise by opting out of the particular email in the manner described;

• for the effective management of the HENI Group such as in group structuring and management, engaging suppliers, generating surveys and statistics, measuring performance and website usage, and implementing service improvement and marketing plans;

• we will process Personal Data in the course of receiving payments from our clients and customers, and when making payments to such persons and to other third parties. The payment methods used will include bank transfers (which will require account names, numbers and sort codes, and possibly other information) and debit or credit card transactions (though note that we do not retain card information and payments via card will be processed securely in accordance with the Payment Card Industry Data Security Standard (“PCI DSS”) to protect sensitive cardholder data by a payment services provider);

• to manage our relationship with you which will include notifying you about changes to our Terms of Service or Privacy Notice;

• to administer and protect our business and Website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data);

• to use data analytics to improve our Services, customer relationships and experiences; or

• any other way we may describe when you provide Personal Data.

We may share your Personal Data with the parties and for the purposes set out below:

• disclosing your Personal Data to third parties outside the HENI Group for the purposes stated above, including on your behalf or in order to enforce or apply our Terms of Service, or to protect the rights, property, or safety of HENI Group businesses and our personnel, customers, or others. This may include exchanging information with other organisations for the purposes of fraud protection and credit risk reduction;

• disclosing your Personal Data to third parties outside the HENI Group as required by virtue of any legal, regulatory or other obligation. For example, we will from time to time be required to disclose Personal Data to external law firms, accountants and auditors, insurance brokers and underwriters;

• disclosing your Personal Data to any HENI Group business or affiliate, which means our subsidiaries, any ultimate holding company and its subsidiaries, or any affiliated person or business. In the event that we or our assets, are acquired by a third party, Personal Data held by us may also be one of the transferred assets; and

• disclosing your Personal Data to third parties outside the HENI Group who need it to do work for us. These recipients may include third party companies and individuals who provide the Services on our behalf, such as operating our Website.

• disclosing your digital wallet address to third parties outside the HENI Group, such as secondary marketplaces, who need it to provide a service to you, where you have chosen to subscribe to their service.

Financial transactions through our Websites will be handled through a payment services provider, including Stripe or PayPal, with which you will deal directly. You can review the Stripe Privacy Notice at stripe.com. PayPal Privacy Notice at paypal.com. We shall share Personal Data with such payment services providers only to the extent necessary for the purposes of processing payments, and dealing with complaints and queries relating to such payments.

You may permit us to share your Personal Data with other companies or entities of your choosing including those companies or entities whose websites or services you can link to from our Website. Those uses will be subject to the privacy policies of the recipient entity or entities.

**5\. Notice to EU and UK data subjects**

This section of the Privacy Notice describes how we process Personal Data relating to individuals in the EU and the UK in accordance with:

• the EU General Data Protection Regulation ((EU) 2016/679) (“EU GDPR”) - in respect of individuals in the EU; and

• the retained EU law version of the EU GDPR that applies in the UK, along with the Data Protection Act 2018 (“UK GDPR”) – in respect of individuals in the UK,

the EU GDPR and the UK GDPR are referred to together as the “Data Protection Legislation”.

**Your rights**

The Data Protection Legislation generally provides individuals with rights in relation to the processing of their Personal Data. These include rights to information relating to such processing, to access such Personal Data, to object to the processing, to rectify, erase, restrict and to port such Personal Data. You can seek to exercise any of these rights or make any other enquiry about our use of your Personal Data by contacting us at any time using the email address above.

Our aim always is to process Personal Data fairly, lawfully and transparently. However, if you are unhappy with the information provided in this Privacy Notice or have questions or concerns regarding this Privacy Notice please email us at the email address above. If you remain dissatisfied you may raise your unresolved issues directly with the data protection regulator in your jurisdiction. You can find your data protection regulator here: https://ec.europa.eu/justice/article-29/structure/data-protection-authorities/index_en.htm.

**Sensitive Personal Data**

Some of the information you provide us may constitute sensitive personal data as defined in the Data Protection Legislation (also referred to as special categories of personal data), including identification of your race or ethnicity on government-issued identification documents which we may collect as part of AML and KYC as explained above.

**Legal Bases for Processing**

We will only use your Personal Data as the law permits. We are required to inform you of the legal bases of our processing of your Personal Data. We have set out below a description of all the ways we plan to use your Personal Data, and which of the legal bases we rely on to do so.

Please note that we may process your Personal Data for more than one lawful ground depending on the specific purpose for which we are using your data.

| Purpose | Lawful basis for processing |
| :----------------------------------------------------------- | :----------------------------------------------------------- |
| To provide our Services including to address any correspondence, comments or enquires made by you and to allow you to participate in interactive features on our Website, should you choose to do so | Performance of a contract with you Necessary for our legitimate interests |
| To process and deliver your purchase orders including to manage payments, fees and charges | Performance of a contract with you Necessary for our legitimate interests |
| To email you with HENI Group invites, newsletters and/or suggestions about products, services or content that may be of interest to you | Necessary for our legitimate interests Consent |
| For the effective management of the HENI Group such as in group structuring and management, engaging suppliers, generating surveys and statistics, measuring performance and website usage, implementing service improvement and marketing plans, etc | Necessary for our legitimate interests |
| To manage our relationship with you which will include notifying you about changes to our Terms of Service or Privacy Policy | Performance of a contract with you Necessary to comply with a legal obligation Necessary for our legitimate interests |
| To administer and protect our business and Website (including troubleshooting, data analysis, testing, system maintenance, support, reporting and hosting of data) | Necessary for our legitimate interests Necessary to comply with a legal obligation |
| To use data analytics to improve our Services, customer relationships and experiences | Necessary for our legitimate interests |
| To comply with AML and KYC requirements | To comply with legal obligations |

**Change of purpose**

We will only use your Personal Data for the purposes for which we collected it, unless we reasonably consider that we need to use it for another reason and that reason is compatible with the original purpose. If you wish to receive an explanation as to how the processing for the new purpose is compatible with the original purpose, please contact us.

If we need to use your Personal Data for an unrelated purpose, we will notify you and we will explain the legal basis which allows us to do so.

Please note that we may process your Personal Data without your knowledge or consent, in compliance with this Privacy Notice, where it is required or permitted by law.

**Cross-Border transfer**

The Personal Data which we collect from you and which we process for the purposes set out in this Privacy Notice may be held and transferred outside the European Economic Area (“EEA”) where appropriate and necessary in accordance with our legitimate interests. Personal Data may also be processed by HENI Group staff, or by one of our suppliers or agents, operating outside the EEA. Such persons or entities may be engaged in, among other things, the fulfilment of your orders, the processing of your payment details or the provision of support services.

If and when making such transfers outside the EEA we will take all steps reasonably necessary to ensure that your Personal Data is managed securely and in accordance with this Privacy Notice and applicable Data Protection Legislation.

**6\. Cookies Policy**

By visiting and interacting with any Website to which this Privacy Notice applies, you are agreeing to our use of cookies in accordance with this Privacy Notice and the relevant website’s terms and conditions.

Cookies are small files that are stored on your computer or internet-enabled portable device by the websites you visit. They help websites improve their efficiency, as well as to provide usage information to the website owner. Cookies contain information such as the time that a website visit occurred, whether the visitor has been to the website before and what site referred the visitor to the web page.

We use cookies on our Website to distinguish you from other users of the site, in order to help us to improve your user experience. Some cookies are essential for the functionality of the Website and allow features to work correctly. Other cookies may collect information about how you interact with our site, including, for example, showing which pages are viewed mostly frequently.

Mixpanel: We collect personal information such as your email address and your user activity through the use of Mixpanel. Mixpanel helps us analyze usage patterns of our users. Mixpanel’s ability to use and share information is governed by the Mixpanel Terms of Use, available at https://mixpanel.com/terms , and the Mixpanel Privacy Policy, available at https://mixpanel.com/privacy. You can opt-out of Mixpanel’s services by clicking on the following link: https://mixpanel.com/optout.

Segment: Segment.io is a central service that allows us to more efficiently forward analytics data to our other data processors. To learn about the privacy practices of Segment please review https://segment.com/docs/legal/privacy. Please contact us if you want to opt-out from Segment.

**7\. How We Respond to Do Not Track Signals**

We do not currently respond to “do not track” signals or other mechanisms that might enable you to opt out of tracking on our Website. You can typically remove and reject cookies from the Services with your browser settings. Many browsers are set to accept cookies until you change your settings. If you remove or reject the cookies, it could affect how the Services work for you.

**8\. Children**

We do not knowingly collect, maintain, or use personal information from children under 13 years of age, and no part of our Service is directed to children. If you learn that a child has provided us with personal information in violation of this Privacy Notice, then you may alert us at the email provided above.

**9\. Third party links**

Our Website may include links to third-party websites, plug-ins and applications. Clicking on those links or enabling those connections may allow third parties to collect or share data about you. This Privacy Notice does not apply to information collected through these third-party websites. We do not control these third-party websites and are not responsible for their privacy notices or policies. When you leave our Website, we encourage you to read the privacy policy of the website you are visiting.

**10\. Variations to this Privacy Notice**

We may vary the terms of this Privacy Notice from time-to-time. You are responsible for checking this webpage regularly to ensure you are familiar with the current version as your Personal Data is subject to the Privacy Notice in effect at the time when you provided that information.

Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) is a riotous ensemble of variously coloured dots of thick paint. Consisting of zoomed-in details of the artist’s eponymous series of 24 paintings, this collection of eight Diasec-mounted Giclée prints on aluminium panels transports viewers deep into Hirst’s world of colour. 

‘Veils’ was released in two parts, first in 2018 with four prints and another four again in 2020. The second release occurred in response to the financial struggles facing art institutions during the COVID-19 pandemic. As such, $100,000 of the total sales of the prints released in 2020 was donated to Fondation Beyeler in Basel, Switzerland and Serpentine Gallery, London, UK, in support of these institutions that play a fundamental role in the display and interpretation of contemporary art in Europe. 

The ‘Veil Paintings’ series emerged in 2017 in the immediate lead up to the unveiling of Hirst’s monumental exhibition of his new series ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’ in Venice within the same year. Several years in the making and with the involvement of a large team, ‘Treasures’ naturally proved gruelling, encouraging Hirst to return to the studio and leading him back to solo painting. In doing so, Hirst left behind the chaos of the ‘Treasures’ production to create immersive and mediative canvases which explode with colour. 

Of his ‘Veil Paintings’, Hirst said, “I want you to get lost in them, I want you to fall into them, and I want them to delight your eyes and make you want to stay in the painting”. Recalling his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986) and ‘Visual Candy’ (1993) paintings, ‘Veil Paintings’ embrace both colour and artistic gesture on a large scale. The paintings continued Hirst’s investigation of colour relationships using thick, clustered and colourful brushstrokes, celebrating “colour and chaos in a big way”. Referencing Pointillism and particularly the great French Post-Impressionist Pierre Bonnard, Hirst took the technique developed and scale used in ‘Veil Paintings’ to his ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) series.

The canvases are entirely covered by abstract layers of colour, permitting the images to work like veils to both reveal and conceal an inner truth, “the thing that we are searching for”. In his ‘Veils’ prints, Hirst utilises titles to position the painting series in a new way. Named after eight of the worlds most extraordinary gardens, from Sanssouci in Potsdam to Kaiser Mahal Kathmandu in Nepal, the compositions evoke fields of flowers, their blossoms clustered together and masking the ground underneath. 

Translating the enormous paintings into accessible prints and spotlighting their details in great clarity, ‘Veils’ affords viewers the opportunity to focus on the pure, rich qualities of Hirst’s colours, and be wholly immersed in the abstracted botanical imagery their titles so evocatively suggest. 

Veils

Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ (H4) is a riotous ensemble of variously coloured dots of thick paint. Consisting of zoomed-in details of the artist’s eponymous series of 24 paintings, this collection of eight Diasec-mounted Giclée prints on aluminium panels transports viewers deep into Hirst’s world of colour. 

Infused with the child-like joy reminiscent of his ‘Spin Paintings’ series, begun in 1994, Damien Hirst’s 2016 ‘Colour Space’ paintings rid themselves of the rigid structure of his ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), constituting a new phase in Hirst’s endless endeavour to “[pin] down the joy of colour”. In 2018 in collaboration with HENI Editions, Hirst translated the logic of these 261 paintings into the eponymous ‘Colour Space’ (H5) series of eight spot prints which reverberate with seemingly boundless energy. 

Hirst’s ‘Colour Space’ works are explorations of human imperfection and reflections on the artist’s early belief in expressive painting. With the series title already in place, Hirst gave his studio assistants in London, Devon and Gloucestershire very basic instructions: to produce paintings with “a good balance of colour and space”, using tones that were not too pastel without repeating colours within a single work. 

For inspiration, Hirst’s first and distinctly individual work which initiated his ‘Spot Painting’ series, ‘Spot Painting’ (1986), travelled from studio to studio. Abandoning the grid formations that dictates the ‘Spot Painting’ series as well as the perfectly shaped spots and sterility of the canvas, the distinct sense of playfulness and movement in the ‘Colour Space’ paintings inspired ‘Colour Space’ (H5) and in 2021, Hirst’s generative NFT, painting and immersive art project, ‘The Currency’.

This energy and tactility produced through the permitted fallibility of the human hand in ‘Colour Space’ is captured in the Diasec-mounted Giclée on aluminium panel prints. Here, against a black or white background, spots not only touch and overlap, but some appear to shoot into place almost like comets. Like their painted counterparts with spots that range in size from 6mm to 100mm, these printed spots are variously coloured and imperfectly rendered, their shapes warped in a deliberate attempt to defy Hirst’s once formal precision. Some colours even splatter, pulling paint across the work and presenting these spots like floating balloons. 

The names of the ‘Colour Space’ print series reference actual spaces – world famous, luxury hotels across the globe. The prints work like portals through to all that these names stand for: travel, leisure, over-indulgence, and the joie de vivre that is at the heart of so much of Hirst’s work. The spirit of the traveller to these places recognises the spirit of the images in their light-hearted and spontaneous natures. 

Pulsing with life, Hirst said of ‘Colour Space’, “I think of [the spots] as cells under a microscope”. Covering and expanding past the entirety of the picture plane, the sheer number of spots in each print evoke atoms being sliced into a single slide, a sensibility which takes on a new dimension in printed form. Sandwiched within between the Diasec mount and aluminium panel, these energetic particles are made available for our scrutiny. 

Colour Space

Infused with the child-like joy reminiscent of his ‘Spin Paintings’ series, begun in 1994, Damien Hirst’s 2016 ‘Colour Space’ paintings rid themselves of the rigid structure of his ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986), constituting a new phase in Hirst’s endless endeavour to “[pin] down the joy of colour”. In 2018 in collaboration with HENI Editions, Hirst translated the logic of these 261 paintings into the eponymous ‘Colour Space’ (H5) series of eight spot prints which reverberate with seemingly boundless energy. 

Damien Hirst’s ‘The Aspects’ (H6) captures to a remarkable degree the sensation of looking through a kaleidoscope. Produced in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland in 2019, ‘The Aspects’ sees a reprisal of Hirst’s characteristic butterfly motif through a series of five unique prints in which the artist continues his search into the butterfly’s potentials as a spiritual and existential metaphor.

In ‘The Aspects’ Hirst carefully arranges images of disembodied butterfly wings in vivid blue hues into transfixing, kaleidoscopic patterns. Playing with the different shapes and colours of the wings, Hirst assembles rigorous geometric patterns reminiscent of the mathematical divisions of his ‘Enter the Infinite’ (H1, 2016) tapestries. In ‘The Aspects’, butterflies, though strictly organised images, nonetheless mimic swarms of insects in active flight. 

For centuries the butterfly has acquired symbolism across religions, but particularly present in ‘The Aspects’ is the Christian faith – each print is named for a characteristic of God’s nature as described in the texts of the Old Testament. Traditionally used in art and literature to signify the resurrection of Christ, Hirst here embraces the mythical sensibility of the butterfly and attaches it to these five universally positive qualities – Mercy, Grace, Patience, Goodness and Truth. Fusing this religious symbolism with his perennial fascination with the butterfly’s ability to retain an exquisite beauty in death just as in life, here Hirst establishes the insect as an uplifting and radiant symbol of mortality. 

Inspired by Victorian tea trays, in 2001 Hirst produced his first ‘Kaleidoscope Painting’, a series which laid the groundwork for not only the complicated, almost scientific organisation of ‘The Aspects’, but also for its stained glass-like quality. While the ‘Kaleidoscope Paintings’ draw direct connections to stained glass windows, even modelling their compositions after existing ones, ‘The Aspects’ refer to the medium’s long association with Christian spirituality through the translucent nature of the wings. The butterfly wings resembling pieces of glass and the black background imitating lead cames, the compositions glow as if made of glass and lit from behind. 

‘The Aspects’ marks an early attempt by Hirst to harness the possibilities of Giclée print on aluminium composite panels, which has permitted him imitate the effects of his butterfly paintings without actually using insects. With this series mounted on Diasec, the images of the butterfly wings are rendered in such fine detail as to seem life-like, the shiny surface of the prints adding to the luminosity of the butterflies’ rich colours. As such, the scientific nature of this study is not lost, capturing the detail, vibrancy and delicacy of the wings in high resolution.

The Aspects

Damien Hirst’s ‘The Aspects’ (H6) captures to a remarkable degree the sensation of looking through a kaleidoscope. Produced in collaboration with Fondation Beyeler in Switzerland in 2019, ‘The Aspects’ sees a reprisal of Hirst’s characteristic butterfly motif through a series of five unique prints in which the artist continues his search into the butterfly’s potentials as a spiritual and existential metaphor.

Named after earth, air, fire and water, Damien Hirst’s ‘The Elements’ (H6) is a pictorial exploration of the ancient theory that the universe was composed of these four elements, which were required to remain in perfect equilibrium to achieve peace, balance humours and ensure the free flowing of spiritual energy.

Released in 2020 to accompany the launch of HENI Leviathan, HENI’s art marketplace, ‘The Elements’ is a series of four Diasec-mounted Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels. Here, Hirst returned to the theme of butterfly wings organised according to intricate geometric structures, evolving from similar series such as ‘The Aspects’ (H6, 2019).

The patterns and colour palettes of the prints reflect their namesake elements: from the mandala-like form in ‘Earth’, reminiscent of the growth rings of an ancient tree and rendered in earth tones, to the emanating concentric circles akin to ripples on a still lake set against a vibrant royal blue background in ‘Water’. 

Hirst’s interest in the relationship between these elements and scientific study trace back as far as 1992 to his installation ‘Pharmacy’. Within the work, Hirst filled four glass bottles each with a different coloured liquid to represent earth, air, fire and water. In so doing, Hirst reached back in time to the beliefs of early medicine in the power of the elements and brought those beliefs into the present day to question our contemporary view of sickness and health, of life and death. 

In ‘The Elements’, Hirst explores the early theory through an almost scientific study of butterfly wings, capturing their every detail and communicating their fragility. For him, butterflies are laden with meaning, extending across time and geography to encompass the ideas such as the soul, the possibility of resurrection, the afterlife and perhaps most pertinently for Hirst, the very notions of life and death themselves, celebrating the potential beauty of each state. 

The Elements

Named after earth, air, fire and water, Damien Hirst’s ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020) is a pictorial exploration of the ancient theory that the universe was composed of these four elements, which were required to remain in perfect equilibrium to achieve peace, balance humours and ensure the free flowing of spiritual energy.

In the spring of 2020 at a time of great fear, isolation and devastation, Damien Hirst released ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7), a hopeful series of rainbow butterfly prints. A charity fundraiser in support of the COVID-19 response effort, ‘Rainbow Editions’ fuses Hirst’s iconic butterfly motif with the rainbow, what became in Britain a symbol for peace, support of the NHS and collective strength.

‘Rainbow Editions’ was launched in support of the British NHS Charities Together and The Felix Project organisations, donating 100% of the profits. During the one-week application period in which edition size was limited to demand, the public could purchase a ‘Butterfly Rainbow’ in support of the British NHS Charities Together or a ‘Butterfly Heart’ to donate to The Felix Project. 

‘Rainbow Editions’ comprises four editions, two rainbow-shaped (‘Butterfly Rainbow’) and two heart-shaped (‘Butterfly Heart’), in which the coloured bands are occupied by correspondingly coloured images of butterfly wings. An iconic Hirstian motif, the images of wings come alive thanks to the print medium: laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite panels. In exceptional detail, these prints capture both the beauty of these wings in their every detail as well as their profound delicacy. A timeless symbol of life and death, butterflies are incorporated into ‘Rainbow Editions’ both as joyful celebrations of life and poignant reflections on human mortality.

The shapes and the rainbow-coloured striped designs of ‘Rainbow Editions’ echo the cheerful rainbows and hearts that became synonymous with the British response to COVID-19. Displayed in windows and chalk drawn on streets across the country in support of the NHS, even years later these shapes and designs evoke emotional responses from the British public, transporting them back to these uncertain times. 

In response to this true community initiative, during the release of ‘Rainbow Editions’, posters of the ‘Butterfly Rainbow’ and ‘Butterfly Heart’ prints could be downloaded from London’s Evening Standard newspaper website for people to show their support of the NHS and the Food for London Now campaign. 

At the close of the application period in May 2020, ‘Rainbow Editions’ raised a stunning total of over £3 million for the two charities. A limited edition totalling to 9,255 prints purchased, Hirst gifted additional prints at his own cost to schools, hospitals, nursing homes and other worthy causes and individuals across Britain. 

Rainbow Editions

In the spring of 2020 at a time of great fear, isolation and devastation, Damien Hirst released ‘Rainbow Editions’ (H7), a hopeful series of rainbow butterfly prints. A charity fundraiser in support of the COVID-19 response effort, ‘Rainbow Editions’ fuses Hirst’s iconic butterfly motif with the rainbow, what became in Britain a symbol for peace, support of the NHS and collective strength.

Derived from his immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ paintings (2018-20), Damien Hirst’s ‘Fruitful & Forever’ (H8, 2020) series brings viewers up close to the personalities of his delectably tactile swathes of colourful paint. Composed of a series of four laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels, ‘Fruitful & Forever’ captures two passages of bright, abstracted details from the painting series, both produced in a small and large version. 

The ‘Fruitful & Forever’ series was offered for sale in partnership with the Fondazione Prada in response to the COVID-19 pandemic, with the edition sizes limited to demand during the initial one-week application period. The profits from the prints were donated to Save the Children and their ‘Riscriviamo il futuro’ project in Italy, established in 2020 to help children from disadvantaged backgrounds affected by school closures across the country as a result of the COVID-19 crisis. 

Hirst’s impressionistic ‘Cherry Blossoms’ paintings depict trees in full bloom, taking inspiration from the work of 19th century painters Pierre Bonnard, Claude Monet, Vincent van Gogh and the Pointillist innovations of Georges Seurat. Negotiating the boundaries of abstraction and figuration, ‘Cherry Blossoms’ playfully subvert the tradition of landscape painting, privileging an experience of visual transience over one of strict recognition. In Hirst’s own words, “The ‘Cherry Blossoms’ are about beauty and life and death…they’re about desire and how we process the things around us and what we turn them in to”. 

Notably, the ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases reach monumental heights, their expressionistic trees towering over viewers and enveloping them in their environments. It is perhaps their size that makes the ‘Fruitful & Forever’ prints akin to microscopic studies and therefore particularly special insights into the minutiae of Hirst’s practice. Zooming into a small section of brushstrokes, executed thickly in a Pointillist fashion with heavy impasto, ‘Fruitful & Forever’ present Hirst’s paint passages like a scientific search for the essence of the paintings, themselves explorations of the essence of beauty and of being.

These paint passages appear exceptionally tactile, tantalising viewers with their smooth, candy-coloured surfaces. Captured in extraordinarily high resolution, there is a humour in how the print medium facilitates this false reality: their apparent tactility tempts viewers reach out and touch, but indeed the surface is entirely flat and the thick impasto a sort of tromp l’oeil. In the face of the great suffering and existential threat posed by COVID-19 that prompted their creation, ‘Fruitful & Forever’ is a reminder to appreciate the small moments of joy and beauty in the world around us. 

Fruitful & Forever

Derived from his immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ paintings (2018-20), Damien Hirst’s ‘Fruitful & Forever’ (H8, 2020) series brings viewers up close to the personalities of his delectably tactile swathes of colourful paint. Composed of a series of four laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels, ‘Fruitful & Forever’ captures two passages of bright, abstracted details from the painting series, both produced in a small and large version. 

In 2021, Damien unveiled ‘The Virtues’ (H9), his second print series after his “garish and messy and fragile” ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) paintings. The monumental canvases have been translated here into a vivid series of eight laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels which captures the ephemeral, colourful blooms on sprawling tree branches.  

Ultimately about the spontaneous joy of spring, ‘Cherry Blossoms’ heralded Hirst’s self-professed “move away from Minimalism and the idea of the imaginary mechanical painter”. A series of 107 canvases of various sizes, ‘Cherry Blossoms’ is derived from the artist’s investigations into the relationships between abstraction and figuration. Returning to the ideas and aesthetics of the 19th century Pointillist painters Georges Seurat and Pierre Bonnard, the paintings are built up of “flashes” of a vast array of colours that work together to create a depth and vivacity to the visually predominant pinks and whites of the blossom trees. Working with the vast scale of the series, Hirst would fill his studio with canvases and work on a number of them simultaneously. In this way, image creation became symbiotic with the immersive viewing experience of them. Hirst works effectively beyond the limits of the visual field offered by one canvas just as the viewer is completely overwhelmed in front of the huge paintings.  

‘The Virtues’ further plays with the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception. The images, derived from the painted ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvases, show recognisable sections of the trees only seen partially as if through a window or from inside the tree itself. The focus is less on trees as a subject matter and more on the sheer beauty of the small moments of colour that make them. As Hirst said, “these prints are about the momentary, the insane transience of beauty – a tree in full crazy blossom against a clear blue sky. How can you argue with that?” 

Hirst’s fascination with the incredible ephemerality of the cherry blossom is echoed in the artwork titles, with each print named for The Eight Virtues of Bushidō according to Nitobe Inazō – Justice, Courage, Mercy, Politeness, Honesty, Honour, Loyalty and Control. Nitobe’s book, ‘Bushidō: The Soul of Japan’, narrates for Western audiences the Samurai code of ethics. Within the book, Nitobe also speaks on the cherry blossom, noting that it “carries no dagger or poison under its beauty, which is ever ready to depart life at the call of nature, whose colours are never gorgeous, and whose light fragrance never palls. Beauty of colour and of form is limited in its showing; it is a fixed quality of existence, whereas fragrance is volatile, ethereal as the breathing of life.” 

In ‘The Virtues’ Hirst once more harnesses the possibilities of printmaking to experiment with technology, making his work available to new audiences along the way. Not only was its edition size open to public demand during a one-week application period, ‘The Virtues’ was the first print series for which both HENI Leviathan and Damien Hirst accepted payment in cryptocurrency. Reproduced in extraordinarily high resolution, in ‘The Virtues’ Hirst shrinks his monumental canvases into accessible prints, retaining the tactility of their captivatingly thick impasto and the vibrancy of their colours.  

The Virtues

In 2021, Damien unveiled ‘The Virtues’ (H9), his second print series after his “garish and messy and fragile” ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) paintings. The monumental canvases have been translated here into a vivid series of eight laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite panels which captures the ephemeral, colourful blooms on sprawling tree branches.  

'The Empresses' (H-10, 2022) marks a new iteration in Damien Hirst's exploration of the butterfly as a symbol for freedom, religion, life and death. A series of five laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite, screen printed with glitter, each print depicts images of red and black butterfly wings, arranged into a unique kaleidoscope-like pattern. The carefully positioned wings appear mobile and their patterns transform, each print seeming to capture the butterflies in moments of variously directional flight. 

As well as a playful reference to Empress butterflies, the prints are named for five influential female rulers from history: Wu Zetian, Theodora, Nūr Jahān, Suiko and Taytu Betul. Their characters and stories are enhanced by the dominant red tone of the series, evoking life, war, power, anger, love, joy and luck. 

Since the beginning of his career Hirst has interacted with the butterfly, one of his best-known motifs. Inspired by a chance encounter in his studio and the intricate patterns found on Victorian tea trays, in 'The Empresses' Hirst develops on the complex compositions invented in his 'Kaleidoscope Paintings' series (begun in 2001). In 'The Empresses', Hirst builds on his interest in the insect's association with freedom, religion, life and death, linking butterflies to themes of glory, female power and the development of nations through the prints' namesake female rulers. 

'The Empresses' prints are symmetrical, asymmetrical and spiral patterns of meticulously organised butterflies that nonetheless exude hope and life – the butterflies look as if they are taking flight. This effect is in part aided by the material, laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite, which allows the butterfly wings to be rendered in minute detail, appearing lifelike and evoking an energetic quality with the light-reflecting property of their surfaces.

The awe-inspiring images of wings are framed by glitter, a vibrant and tactile material previously used by Hirst in his paintings and prints. This substance conveys a sense of joy, harking back to childhood play and moments of blissful abandon. In this way, the materiality of the prints work with the very images they depict to create the jocular sentiment that is characteristic of Hirst's work: the vivacity and excitement of the glitter ground lends a sense of life to the immobile butterfly wings, held static in their defined positions within the intricate geometry of each print. 

A limited edition series with sizes based on demand within a week-long application period, 'The Empresses' not only marked a new rendition of Hirst's iconic butterfly motif but also the arrival of the HENI Editions NFT Deed, permitting the delay of receipt of the prints for up to three years. This digital intervention afforded the ultimate flexibility to collectors of 'The Empresses' and introduced a chrysalis-like stage in the prints' lifecycles.  

The Empresses

‘The Empresses’ (H-10, 2022) marks a new iteration in Damien Hirst’s exploration of the butterfly as a symbol for freedom, religion, life and death. A series of five laminated Giclée prints on aluminium composite, screen printed with glitter, each print depicts images of red and black butterfly wings, arranged into a unique kaleidoscope-like pattern. The carefully positioned wings appear mobile and their patterns transform, each print seeming to capture the butterflies in moments of variously directional flight. 

These 1,000 unique prints show close-up details from The Currency artworks by Damien Hirst.

The prints provide an extraordinary new perspective on The Currency collection, using extremely high-resolution images to focus in on singular details of the painted works. Each print is unique, hand-numbered and hand-signed on the front by Damien Hirst.

Transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful, in 2016 Damien Hirst experimented with a new formulation of his ‘Spin Paintings’ series, begun in 1994,  through ‘Enter the Infinite’ (H1), which pushes the human eye to its limits. 

Composed of 12 jacquard-woven tapestries, ‘Enter the Infinite’ divides Hirst’s ‘Spin Painting’ from 2008, ‘Beautiful Flailing, Falling, Grip on Reality, Pull Yourself Together Painting’, into quarters and eighths. Began in 1994, ‘Spin Paintings’ are defined by elongated titles and characterised by bright, exploding colours. Hirst describes the works as, “childish…in the positive sense of the word”, reflecting on the unbridled playfulness inherent to their creation, and the delight in the bemusing effects of the resulting vivacious paintings. Nevertheless, the ‘Spin Paintings’ pursue in a new format the notion of the imaginary mechanical painter, famously explored in Hirst’s ‘Spot Paintings’ series. Though the product of chance, they are ultimately born out of the technology of the spin machine.  

This randomness that defines the ‘Spin Paintings’ series is accompanied in ‘Enter the Infinite’ by mathematical intervention, precisely dividing, repeating and reflecting the action. As a result, ‘Beautiful Flailing’ is converted into prismatic patterns composed of seemingly infinite planes of symmetry and orientation. The tapestries draw the eye to their central points through fields of intense motion and colour, reminiscent of the spinning technology used to produce the painting on which they are based. 
Rippling in blues, reds, yellows and greens, the tapestry takes the eye on an uneasy journey in and out of the work’s centre. The eye cannot contain the patterns of colours and the shifting perspectives of inward and outward motion, prompting a reflection on its limits and functions. The tapestries are arresting, a quality reflected in the individual titles. The ‘Enter the Infinite’ tapestries are named for, as art writer Michael Bracewell calls it, “heightened or altered consciousness, foresight, and cosmic or spiritual ecstasy: any of these terms relate to chemically induced hallucinogenic experience as much as they do to religious, meditational, philosophical, or devotional realization”. 

Indeed, in turning to tapestry, a medium with a history of grandeur, Hirst also positions his ‘Spin Paintings’ in a new light. Tapestries have adorned castles, churches and cathedrals for centuries, depicting scenes often derived from biblical narratives, mythology, history and military victories. Hirst’s ‘Enter the Infinite’ not only joins this lineage, but also infuses into the joyful ‘Spin Paintings’ series the artist’s perennial interest in the themes of belief and spectacle. 

Enter the Infinite

Transfixing, vibrant and entirely joyful, in 2016 Damien Hirst experimented with a new formulation of his ‘Spin Paintings’ series, begun in 1994, through ‘Enter the Infinite’ (H1), which pushes the human eye to its limits. Composed of 12 jacquard-woven tapestries, ‘Enter the Infinite’ is based on one of Hirst’s ‘Spin Paintings’, dividing, repeating and reflecting it to generate prismatic patterns composed of seemingly infinite planes of symmetry and orientation.

Damien Hirst

Series