'I liked the idea of taking nature and trying to control it.' —Damien HirstHirst’s Nessus, a painting that features a kaleidoscopic view of colourful beetles and other insects, is from the artist’s series entitled Entomology Paintings started in 2009. The highly complex composition is created entirely from hundreds of varieties of insects, butterflies and beetles, glazed in Hammerite gloss paint, creating radiant and intricate patterns of iridescence.
Hirst wholly envelopes the viewer by creating an inspiring chromatic effect with rows of juxtaposing colours and incredible vortex of forms. The portrayal of enticing beauty and life is undercut by the reality of what is really there. As Hirst explains, the paintings are ‘beautiful and horrific at the same time, you can’t help but be drawn into it, seduced by it, but you want to run away from it.’i The pattern created by the insects is similar to that of drawn mandalas, creating a mesmerising effect, in which an unsuspecting observer admiring from a distance would be oblivious to the fact that the work is made entirely of insects. While from afar, these individual wings appear like multi-coloured jewels in a mosaic, or panes in a stained glass window, up close each wing serves as a reminder of life’s fragility. The symbolism of the mandala, which represents life and the desire to find one’s true purpose, is contrasted by the fact that the medium of the artwork is dead insects.
'I think I've got an obsession with death, but I think it’s like a celebration of life rather than something morbid. You can’t have one without the other.' —Damien HirstDamien Hirst's fascination with death and mortality is a common theme that appears in many of his series. What highlights the dialogue between life and death in Nessus is the presence of dead beetles. In ancient Egyptian religion the scarab beetle was one of the most popular amulets, serving as a symbol of immortality, resurrection and protection often used in funerary art. The artist notes, ‘You have to find universal triggers, everyone's frightened of glass, everyone's frightened of sharks, everyone loves butterflies.’ii Insects are one of Hirst's most incorporated ‘universal triggers’ which have always been central to the artist’s oeuvre as they further emphasise his life-long fascination with life cycles and the inevitability of death. Butterflies hold a particular importance, because they are the ultimate depiction of love and beauty in nature, retaining that beauty even in death.
While the Entomology Painting series stem from Hirst’s earlier Kaleidoscope Paintings, it may appear a lot more sinister in its theme with titles inspired by characters and locations from the Divine Comedy, Dante Alighieri’s visualisation of the afterlife. In Dante’s Inferno, Nessus is one of the centaurs who guard the seventh circle, the ‘Circle of Violence,’ making sure that the damned souls drowning do not escape their fate. He was appointed to lead Dante and Virgil along the Phlegeton River to hell.
Though at first dead butterflies and beetles may seem as rather morbid, Nessus encourages the viewer to reflect on how fleeting life is and may perhaps be seen as the embodiment of living life in all its colours. ‘I want to make art, create objects that will have meaning for ever. It's a big ambition, universal truth, but somebody's gotta do it.’iii
