For the first time in Germany, some of Damien Hirst's most iconic works will be on view in a major solo exhibition at the Museum of Urban and Contemporary Art (MUCA) from 26 October 2023.
"For the Love of God" (2007), Damien Hirst's famous platinum cast of a human skull set with 8,601 diamonds, will also be on view in the artist's major survey exhibition at MUCA, in a special exhibition limited in time only until the end of January 2024.
The Diamond Skull embodies Hirst's fascination with diamonds and underlines their inherent uncertainty about their value. It confronts the competitive nature of the diamond industry and the capitalist society that sustains it.
The work will be shown as part of the exhibition entitled "The Weight of Things along with over 40 other works, including installations, sculptures and paintings, some of which have never been seen before. The exhibition includes some of Hirst's most iconic series, including Natural History (Formaldehyde Sculptures), Spin Paintings, Medicine Cabinets, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, Cherry Blossoms and Spot- and Butterfly Paintings.
Throughout his career, Hirst reflected on the complex relationships between beauty, religion, science, life and death. Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 when, during his second year at Goldsmiths College, he conceived and curated the group exhibition Freeze, which sparked a new wave of British artists reinventing contemporary art.
Since 1991, in many of his most famous works, Hirst used Formaldehyde to explore the relationship between art and science. "The Weight of Things brings together several examples of this impressive series. Other iconic series on view in the exhibition include. Spot Paintings, a series that began in 1986 and consists of colourful dots that look as if they were painted by a machine, as well as Spin Paintingswhich are known for their energetic bursts of colour and always contain a random element.
"The Weight of Things" features marble and bronze sculptures and light boxes from the Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable series, which was first exhibited at the Punta della Dogana and Palazzo Grassi in Venice in 2017. These works are based on an invented legend about an ancient shipwreck and interweave fact and fiction. The Cherry Blossoms series reinterprets the traditional theme of landscape painting with playful irony. Hirst combines thick brushstrokes and elements of gestural painting, drawing on Impressionism and Pointillism as well as Action Painting.
