The Dead (silver gloss, chocolate)
The Dead (silver gloss, chocolate)
Signed Print
Damien Hirst
£3,550-£5,500Value Indicator
$7,500-$11,500 Value Indicator
$6,500-$10,000 Value Indicator
¥35,000-¥50,000 Value Indicator
€4,100-€6,500 Value Indicator
$40,000-$60,000 Value Indicator
¥710,000-¥1,090,000 Value Indicator
$4,800-$7,500 Value Indicator
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72 x 51cm, Edition of 15, Foil Block
Medium: Foil Block
Edition size: 15
Year: 2009
Size: H 72cm x W 51cm
Signed: Yes
Format: Signed Print
Last Auction: November 2020
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Meaning & Analysis
The Dead (silver gloss, chocolate) is a signed foil block print in colours on Arches paper produced by renowned contemporary artist, Damien Hirst. In this print, Hirst renders a skull in a shimmering silver gloss with dark chocolate colour shading. The skull floats in the centre of the composition against a plain white backdrop.
The print, made in 2009, is one of thirty-one prints that compose The Dead series. As indicated by the title of the series, death is the central theme that runs throughout the prints. The skull functions as a memento mori, a symbolic reminder of the inevitability of death. Hirst attempts to use his art to explore questions of life and death, as well as other dualities such as desire and fear, love and loss, beauty and decay.
Hirst was fascinated by the way in which death was a taboo subject, something ‘unacceptable’ that people did not want to think or talk about. His use of the skull, a universally recognised symbol to represent death, reflects how he tackles the subject matter in a frank and direct manner, encouraging the viewer not to fear death but to embrace its inevitability.
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.
