Damien Hirst, H5-2 Beverly Hills, 2018

Diasec-mounted Giclée print on aluminum panel

35.5 x 35.5 in | 90 x 90 cm

Ed of 100

Damien Hirst’s argument that “colour is just a powerful, uplifting thing” materialises in ‘Beverly Hills’. This facsimile print from Hirst’s ‘Colour Space’ (H5, 2018), which is based on an original work from his eponymous 2016 painting series, portrays a free-flowing approach to depicting spots: it diverges from his iconic ‘Spot Paintings’ (begun in 1986) whilst maintaining the same focus on the optical effects of colour relations.

Named for the iconic Los Angeles hotel, there is a distinct sense of movement in ‘Beverly Hills’ as spots not only touch and overlap, but some appear to shoot into place almost like comets. These variously coloured spots are imperfectly rendered, their shapes warped in a deliberate attempt to defy Hirst’s once formal precision. Some colours even splatter, pulling paint across the work and rendering these spots like floating balloons. Joined with their distinctly vibrant colours, ‘Beverly Hills’ is an entirely joyful piece.

The seemingly endless spots which cover and exceed the picture plane are also akin to atoms. Reverberating with a dynamic amount of life and energy, these spots bounce around, together fortuitously forming a composition that continues to change before the viewer. The longer one stands before ‘Beverly Hills’, the more swirling and circular patterns emerge, an effect that is maintained in the present edition.