The Dead (Panama copper, turquoise)
The Dead (Panama copper, turquoise)
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
£3,600-£5,500Value Indicator
$7,500-$11,500 Value Indicator
$6,500-$10,000 Value Indicator
¥35,000-¥50,000 Value Indicator
€4,150-€6,500 Value Indicator
$40,000-$60,000 Value Indicator
¥710,000-¥1,090,000 Value Indicator
$4,850-$7,500 Value Indicator
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72 x 51cm, Edition of 15, Foil Block
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Meaning & Analysis
The Dead (Panama copper, turquoise) is a signed foil block print in colours on Arches paper produced by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. In this print, Hirst renders a large skull in an earthy copper colour with hints of dark turquoise. Against the plain white backdrop, the skull appears to be floating without a body, as it stares out at the viewer of the print.
The print, produced in 2009, is part of the artist’s The Dead series. In this series, Hirst made thirty-one prints, all of which depict colourful skulls. The skull is a central element of the artist’s visual language and iconography. The series resonates with other series, such as I Once Was What You Are, You Will Be What I Am (2007) and Memento (2008), however it stands out from them due to Hirst’s bold incorporation of colour.
Hirst’s use of colour in The Dead (Panama copper, turquoise) reflects how death and human mortality is often thought of and discussed. The artist explains: “you don’t like it [death], so you disguise it or you decorate it to make it look like something bearable – to such an extent that it becomes something else.”
Damien Hirst, born in Bristol in 1965, is often hailed the enfant terrible of the contemporary art world. His provocative works challenge conventions and his conceptual brilliance spans installations, paintings, and sculptures, often exploring themes of mortality and the human experience. As a leading figure of the Young British Artists (YBA) movement in the late '80s, Hirst's work has dominated the British art scene for decades and has become renowned for being laced with controversy, thus shaping the dialogue of modern art.
