Damien Hirst- Love

For my second visit I went to the Paul Stolper gallery to see the pop up Damien Hirst exhibition named 'LOVE'. It featured many brightly coloured prints and sculptural editions. The theme focuses exclusively on the theme 'love' done especially for Valentines day. The exhibition is set up in one modest room and has few artworks so the layout is very simple.

The pieces are from a portfolio called 'LOVE gold' which includes love heart prints with a single butterfly on them in foil. Some are silkscreened and others are done in gold leaf. The other parts of the exhibit were two love heart pill scuptures called 'YU4EVA' and another labelled 'Love struck' which constituted of a heart in a sweet jar being pierced by a crossbow. Hirst said 'love is a beautiful thing and I see it as a small antidote to all the horror in the world', the horror he speaks of may be presented by the heart in the jar as it is haunting yet enchanting. It was a significant piece to the gallery and made it extremely diverse and somewhat daring.

Although I would never have previously associated Damien Hirst with such a holiday and theme he presented it beautifully however very simplistically. It was smaller than expected for such a renowned artist however the art was of great quality. It was also mentioned that another portfolio called 'LOVE silver' will be released in June this year which I am excited to visit.