Damien Hirst, H13-8, Woody Bay, 2024

Damien Hirst’s H13-8, Woody Bay (2024) captures the exuberance and fragility of blossoming nature through a riot of color and gesture. Layers of pinks, whites, greens, and reds scatter across a gray ground, creating the impression of petals caught mid-air or strewn across a coastal breeze. Thick daubs of paint sit alongside drips and splatters, emphasizing both the physicality of the medium and the ephemerality of its subject. The title grounds the work in a place of natural beauty along the Devon coast, yet the composition is less a depiction than an evocation - an abstracted memory of fleeting bloom and passing time. Part of Hirst’s “Where the Land Meets the Sea” series, Woody Bay reflects his ongoing fascination with beauty, decay, and transformation, rendering the momentary in bold, permanent form.