Damian Hirst’s new paintings have been painted from life in his Devon studio. They are varying in size, from more intimate canvases to large-size paintings. They can be seen as traditional still-life, with a strong element of memento mori, depicting an array of carefully arranged elements, both natural and inanimate, alongside objects and formal devices that have made their appearance in Hirst’s sculptures and installations before. Birds, butterflies and flower blossoms with their bright colours suggest a sense of pure joy which often is countered by more sinister symbols, such as a shark’s gaping jawbone.

Some objects are painted with clarity and impasto; others appear hazy and faint, as if they were somehow more insubstantial, part of a sudden apparition or dream-like vision. Often Hirst has decided to keep the lines of the original drawings visible, sometimes combining them with a grid of white spots. In this way he suggests an underlying formal order to the arrangements of objects, fauna and flora.

Manuela Mena wrote about these works: