Name: Tyloxapol
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (236 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Damien Hirst's Tyloxapol (signed) is estimated to be worth between £17,000 and £26,000. This woodcut print, created in 2010, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 14%. This is a rare artwork with an auction history of four total sales since its entry to the market in October 2016. The hammer price over the past five years has ranged from £13,200 in December 2017 to £24,500 in June 2022. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 48.

Meaning & Analysis

Tyloxapol is a woodcut print from Damien Hirst’s 12 Woodcut Spots series from 2010. The print shows three rows of four spots that are identical in size and shape, each depicting a unique colour. Across the artist’s vast oeuvre every spot painting represents a unique combination of colours. The 12 Woodcut Spots series is an exploration of colour and form that is distinctly Hirstian.

read more about Spots

The cold repetition and sterile aesthetic of the 12 Woodcut Spots series is reminiscent of Hirst’s early pill cabinet works such as The Void from 2000. Both works evoke a sense of endless sameness and directly allude to the realms of medicine and science. Indeed, the chemical name of each print in this series evokes a nondescript powder or pill that is abstract in its scientific mode.

In its depiction of many spots, methodically arranged, this print appears like a packet of medical pills, further exacerbated by the print’s title. Tyloxapol is formulaic and crisp in form, evoking a lack of human or artistic touch. Indeed, for many of the spot paintings throughout his career, Hirst employed assistants to produce them. This was part of the artist’s aims towards creating works that appear to have been produced mechanically, despite the way in which these prints and paintings are painstaking and laborious to produce.