Damien Hirst Analysis Work

This piece made in 2020 is named air ‘Air’, it is one of Hirst’s real butterfly wings kaleidoscope type prints. Hirst has created a range of pieces that are similar to this one in a range of colours. This one consists mostly of pastel colours in shades of purple, blue, turquoise, yellow and green.All these colours fit together really well, the shades compliment each other. Even though the piece is very full, the colours aren’t bright so it doesn’t feel too overbearing or garish. Hirst has created that perfect balance in his work. The piece is made up of 12 segments, all of which are reflections of each other. I believe to make this piece Hirst will have used either mirrors or an app or technology to create the symmetry. I know that there is an app called Kaleidogram and probably others similar that are able to generate images like this. All of the butterfly wings in the image are real, Hirst farms all of his wings instead of catching them in the wild. In 2003, the artist became the UK’s biggest importer of exotic butterflies. He places them in his desired composition to create the pieces, often using his mirroring techniques to make the wings look as if they are complete creatures. Whilst I do really love Hirst’s work and what he creates, I think his colour choices and compositional skills are incredible, I’m not keen on the idea that they are real butterflies. For my work and to experiment with Hirst’s techniques, I would like to use my own drawings of butterflies to create similar work. I could use the Kaleidogram app or maybe look at using Adobe Photoshop to create the different segments. Hirst’s work is very relevant to my work as it looks at insects, butterflies in particular. He explores their beauty and fragility in his work. Hirst wants his work to be a reflection of life, his butterflies symbolise the circle of life, growth and change.All of the butterflies are unique, mimicking the individuality of each human. I aim to use his work to create patterns and designs that really showcase the beautiful patterns of butterflies and insects and how special they really are.