Name: Meparticin
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Track auction value trend

Damien Hirst's Meparticin (signed) from 2011, a Woodcut print, is estimated to be worth between £5,500 and £8,000. This artwork has an auction history of one sale on 19th January 2022. Over the past five years, the hammer price has varied from £3,795 in February 2022 to £3,795 in February 2022. The average annual growth rate of this work is -4%. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 55.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

January 2022

Phillips London

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

Meparticin is a woodcut print from Damien Hirst’s 40 Woodcut Spots series from 2011. The print shows a perfect circle in red, positioned in the centre of the square composition. Set against a plain white backdrop, this print appears like a drastically cropped version of one of Hirst’s more recognisable spot paintings. As a result, Meparticin is decidedly abstract.

The 40 Woodcut Spots series is reminiscent of Hirst’s vast series of spot paintings, of which there are over 1000 in existence, dating from 1988 to 2011. The spots represent abstraction reduced to its most basic mechanisms: colour, form and composition. The grid formula for these paintings is the basis for an unbounded series where Hirst can infinitely explore harmonious and contrasting colour combinations.

This is a highly simplified print with a flattened surface. It is striking in its immediateness and is starkly different in comparison to Hirst’s many other spot paintings in its depiction of a large, singular spot. The title of this print takes its name from a chemical compound and invokes ideas around medicine and science to the viewer, the perfect circle bringing to mind the idea of a medical pill.