Damien Hirst, H4-7 Ryoanji, 2018

Diasec-mounted Giclée print on aluminum panel

36.25 x 49.75 in | 92 x 126 cm

Ed of 75

Visually arresting, ‘Ryoanji’ is dominated by dark, autumnal shades of red, in densely textured dots spread thickly across the picture plane. Named after the Zen temple garden in Kyoto, this stunningly vibrant print from Damien Hirst’s ‘Veils’ series was published in 2020. The rich colours appear larger than life, seemingly radiating beyond the boundaries of the artwork’s surface.

‘Ryoanji’ is one in a series of editions that capture details from Hirst’s ‘Veil Paintings’ series (2017), transforming them into printed editions and making the enormous paintings more accessible. The ‘Veils’ series affords viewers the opportunity to focus on the pure, rich qualities of Hirst’s colours, and explore the textured surfaces of each canvas. Of his ‘Veil Paintings’, Hirst said “I want you to get lost into them, I want you to fall into them, and I want them to delight your eyes and make you want to stay in the painting”.

The splashes of pink, white, blue and green emerging from behind the densely distributed red impasto lend greater depth to this striking image. Appearing almost like an autumnal forest, the enigmatic composition of ‘Ryoanji’ invites viewers to wonder at the hidden image that seems to emerge from behind the intensely red paint.