Damien Hirst, H9-2 Courage, 2021

Laminated Giclée print on aluminum composite panel

47.25 x 37.75 in | 120 x 96 cm

Ed of 760

Described as one of the “qualities of the soul”, and a virtue that is exemplified through a state of tranquillity, Courage is both the second of Nitobe Inazō’s Eight Virtues of Bushidō, the Samurai code of ethics, and of Damien Hirst’s “garish, messy and fragile” prints from his ‘The Virtues’ (H9, 2021) series.

‘Courage’ captures a detail from one of Hirst’s immersive ‘Cherry Blossoms’ (2018-20) canvases. A composition, monumental in size, is scaled down to both offer an up-close view of the artist’s practice and further play on the idea of the possibilities and limits of human perception. In ‘Courage’ is a recognisable section of a ‘Cherry Blossoms’ canvas, insinuating that viewers are seeing the composition through a window or perhaps from inside the tree itself. It captures against a light blue background, thick, white and pink spots which are accompanied by a rainbow of “flashes” of paint. Together, these spot-like petals climb up the sprawling tree branches. At times the bubble gum-like petals hover in space, apparently frozen in time as they fall to the ground.

‘Courage’, an expressionistic image which oscillates between abstraction and figuration, conveys along the way Hirst’s perennial interest in the notions of life and death through the transient cherry blossom. However, the print appears more vital than morbid, celebrating the possibilities of vibrant, sensuous colour.