“In a way, science brings religion down to earth, and to cut open mythical creatures and expose them as no different to mortal horses is somehow still magical. It's kind of like exploding a myth to make it real.”
—Damien HirstDancing the line between life and death, Damien Hirst blends profound themes with a playful exploration of unusual subjects from both the human and animal worlds. These themes manifest in Myth and Legend, a pair of miniature porcelains released in 2016 as part of a limited edition of twenty, based on Hirst’s acclaimed life-sized sculptures from 2011. Myth depicts the legendary unicorn, while Legend portrays the mythical Pegasus: a mighty, winged steed that Bellerophon rode to defeat the Chimera in Greek mythology.Both legendary creatures stand tall and still, as if they have paused atop their plinths to observe the world below them. On one side, they are rendered in pure white, reflecting contemporary impressions of classical statuary as majestic white sculptures. By striking contrast, in visceral, fleshy reds, the other half displays the horses' dissected body, with the creatures' muscles, bones and arteries exposed. Their facial expressions suggest tranquillity and superiority, befitting their godly origins. Yet by rotating the figures, viewers can peer beneath the surface, revealing ordinary, mortal flesh and blood. Each muscle, bone, and vein is rendered in stunning detail, showing how their divinity is inseparable from their animality. These miniatures, handcrafted by the renowned Nymphenburg Porcelain Makers in Munich, Germany, stand on pedestals coated in gold, alike the unicorn’s gilded horn in Myth.
George Stubbs, The Anatomy of the Horse, 1766, The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Image: © The Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, Gift of Lincoln Kirstein, 1953, 53.599.1bis Hirst’s sculptures recall the equestrian portraiture of George Stubbs (1724-1806), who is best known for his iconic painting Whistlejacket of 1762, now a treasure of the National Gallery in London. Stubbs had a profound knowledge of equine anatomy, which he famously developed by conducting dissections of horse cadavers, suspending them in various positions to capture their anatomical precision. His methods and subsequent accuracy set him apart from his contemporaries, and his findings were later published in The Anatomy of the Horse, 1766, solidifying his reputation as the leading authority on equine form. This deep understanding of anatomy echoes through Hirst’s work, where the mythical unicorn and Pegasus-like creature are exposed in much the same way, with muscles and bones laid bare for all to see. Just as Stubbs stripped away the mystique of the horse to reveal its inner workings, Hirst’s sculptures deconstruct myth to explore the relationship between divinity and mortality. Yet despite this exposure, both Stubbs’ and Hirst’s creations remain majestic, blending science and art to find beauty, rather than casting them as opposites.
“I like the way that even by showing these creatures' insides, they still feel majestic and hopeful. They seem more real, not just creatures from fantasy. Maybe they can even help us in the real world.”
—Damien HirstHirst’s large-scale Myth and Legend sculptures, made of painted bronze, were a highlight of the prestigious exhibition Beyond Limits, at Chatsworth House in 2011. Displayed at the ancestral home of the Dukes of Devonshire, the colossal pieces stood at opposite ends of the Canal Pond, symbolising anatomical perfection. Hirst explained that these sculptures continued his exploration of the relationship between science and religion. By exposing mythical creatures as no different from mortal horses, science "brings religion down to earth" and makes these mythical beings real. As a result, these creatures take on a new reality, maintaining their majesty while becoming more relatable – perhaps even a source of hope for humankind.
Artist Biography
Damien Hirst
British • 1965
There is no other contemporary artist as maverick to the art market as Damien Hirst. Foremost among the Young British Artists (YBAs), a group of provocative artists who graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in the late 1980s, Hirst ascended to stardom by making objects that shocked and appalled, and that possessed conceptual depth in both profound and prankish ways.
Regarded as Britain's most notorious living artist, Hirst has studded human skulls in diamonds and submerged sharks, sheep and other dead animals in custom vitrines of formaldehyde. In tandem with Cheyenne Westphal, now Chairman of Phillips, Hirst controversially staged an entire exhibition directly for auction with 2008's "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever," which collectively totalled £111 million ($198 million).
Hirst remains genre-defying and creates everything from sculpture, prints, works on paper and paintings to installation and objects. Another of his most celebrated series, the 'Pill Cabinets' present rows of intricate pills, cast individually in metal, plaster and resin, in sterilized glass and steel containers; Phillips New York showed the largest of these pieces ever exhibited in the United States, The Void, 2000, in May 2017.
9
Myth
2016
Porcelain multiple painted in colours and partially glazed.
44 x 41 x 15 cm (17 3/8 x 16 1/8 x 5 7/8 in.)
Signed and numbered 10/20 in black ink on the underside (there were also 5 artist's proofs), fabricated by Nymphenburg, Munich (with their stamp on the underside), published by Other Criteria, London.
Estimate
£10,000 - 15,000 ♠
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Damien Hirst: Online Auction
17 - 25 October 2024
