Damien Hirst, H6-9 Water, 2020

Diasec-mounted Giclée print on aluminum composite panel

39.5 x 39.5 in | 100 x 100 cm

Ed of 60

The element of water has long been associated with our tendencies towards introspection, often symbolising dreams, memories and the desire for change. Damien Hirst captures these connotations in ‘Water’, a calming and beautiful print from his series ‘The Elements’ (H6, 2020)

Water has appeared in similar symbolic guises throughout Hirst’s oeuvre, firstly in the 1990s via sharks and fish suspended in formaldehyde and later as a site of alchemical transformation in his project ‘Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable’. In ‘Water’, Hirst utilises his butterfly motif, deploying images of disembodied wings into patterns and in colours that reflect its namesake elements. The concentric circles emanate outwards from a central, jewel-like butterfly, akin to ripples on a still lake, in ‘Water’, where a vibrant royal blue background and black, turquoise, purple and white wings recall the colours of a deep lagoon.

Utilising images of butterflies, one of his best-known motifs, through ‘Water’ Hirst reaches back in time to the beliefs of early medicine in the power of the elements and brought those beliefs into the present day to question our contemporary view of sickness and health, of life and death. For him, butterflies are laden with meaning, extending across time and geography to encompass the ideas such as the very notions of life and death themselves.