A textbook case, Damien Hirst! Literally, since it appears in school curricula. Which earned him a reputation among college students, who learned by heart the number of diamonds – 8,601 – adorning the platinum skull of his
For the Love of God
, a sort of modern-day vanity sold for $100 million. Today, in London, we won't talk about money. The matter is settled, Damien Hirst is the richest artist in the world with a fortune estimated by the
Sunday Times
at 370 million euros... Framed, the meeting takes place under the leadership of the studio director. Heading towards his next exhibition in Provence, “The Light That Shines”, which is taking over the Château La Coste estate. Affable, honest, a little provocative, a little showboating, true to his character, he stares at people and things with his blue boot button eyes.
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Blue like the sky of his
Cherry
Blossoms
,
exhibited at the Fondation Cartier in 2021, or blue like the floor of one of his workshops in Hammersmith, with a view of the Thames. There are five of them – one goes to his two eldest musical sons, the others are devoted to painting. Half bric-a-brac, half cabinets of curiosities, they contain large-format canvases in progress and all the objects that inspire them: bouquets of multicolored fake flowers, stuffed rabbit lost among parrots, shark jaws , shells, voodoo fetishes… Not to mention the magnificent palette of open paint pots, lined up side by side, a relief echo of his
Spot Paintings
. The owner's tour completed, Damien goes elsewhere. A driver opens the rear door of a large 4x4 with smoked windows. Such is the life of an artist!
Madame Figaro. –
Why this title,
The Light That
Shines
?
Damien Hirst. -
I have a list of titles in my phone. I chose this one because we are in the south of France and the light – the sun – shines. There are many outdoor sculptures, treasures. The artist, art, is also a kind of light that shines. It is a symbol of life. A lot of people say my work is about death. I think the opposite. Even when art speaks of death, it always speaks of life. I preferred to focus on the light that shines rather than the one that goes out.
Featured in formalin, a deformed calf,
The Ascension
, from the
Natural History
series , 2003. Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2024 Damien Hirst
You exhibit on the estate and in the five pavilions designed by the architects Renzo Piano, Richard Rodgers and Oscar Niemeyer… How was the choice of works made?
My work corresponds, in a way, to these places. When I was younger, I worried: “I have so many ideas, my work is going all over the place.” It was a bit of chaos. Today, I’m approaching the five spaces with five different bodies of work. It makes sense. It's very nice to say: here's a part of me, here's another part of me, and so on. When I went on vacation to Château La Coste, with my three French bulldogs, everything was clear. The
Empresses
, for example, are very red. I think Richard Rogers liked this color, I figured they suited the space he designed. In the same way, the old cellar, somewhat underground, is ideal for my
Cosmos Paintings.
Nothing Can Escape, Not Even Light
, 2021, from the
Cosmos Paintings
series . Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2024
You exhibit more than 80 works. Is this a mini-retrospective?
It happened organically. Paddy McKillen (
the owner of Château La Coste, Editor's note
) first asked me if I wanted to make outdoor sculptures. I sent ten options, thinking he would choose two. He took all ten! Same for the galleries, I was thinking of exhibiting in two or three, and, over time, we invested in them all. If he had told me that from the start, I probably would have said, “It’s too much work!” It all forms a story, a narrative.
Each work in The Empress Paintings
series
is named after a historical female figure. Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2024
Where are you with your chapel?
This is a major project that we are currently working on in the woods of the vineyard. I'll show you a photo on my cell phone. Part will be buried. The arrow represents a hand…
Garden of Love and Laughter
, from the series
The Secret Garden Paintings
, 2023, evokes the vitality of nature. Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2024
Who points to the sky...
And who mimes holding a smartphone, too... A staircase leads to a balcony with a panoramic view. You will be able to see Montmartre! The chapel will be ready in ten years, with the interior in amethyst, because purple has a religious connotation in the symbolism of colors. And the stained glass windows will be decorated with butterflies.
Are you returning to painting?
When I first started, I was reluctant. When I was a student at Goldsmiths, I bought my materials from a hardware store. I made objects, I didn't want to paint, I would have preferred to be dead rather than to be a painter. I denied my nature. Because I have always loved art, sculpture, painting. With the idea that the painter is above everything. Rembrandt, Van Gogh, Bacon… reach the highest level.
What is art made for?
I want to make unforgettable objects or paintings. My paintings of butterflies or cherry trees are similar. At the same time, I want to push back and make people love. I always have in mind my mother, who drew from a live model. I wanted to make paintings that my mother would love, and paintings that my mother would hate.
The diamond skull is a work that I could not keep at home without armed men
Damien Hirst
What is your favorite work?
I am still attached to my latest works, so at the moment
Les Jardins Secrets
. But my favorite is the diamond skull. It is a work, the first, that I could not keep at home without armed men. We imagine that people could die to possess it. This skull, which is death, is a confusing object... At the same time, it is easy to transport!
Do you still plan to paint with a robot?
Oh yes ! I'm training with several, one is spraying paint, the other is painting, cleaning, etc. People say, “You’re not the one making your own paintings. They are your assistants.” (
There are 150 of them, Editor’s note.
) I told myself that I could answer: “No! It's not my assistants who do them. These are my robots.”
Damien Hirst talks about his works
1.
Natural History
“The Natural History series brings together animals immersed in tanks filled with formalin. There are two calves, one is titled In His Infinite Wisdom, the other
The Ascension
. I took up the religious metaphor which uses calves, goats, sheep… It’s very iconographic. God is supposed to be perfect, and so are animals. I thought that having some kind of monstrosity, a six-legged, poorly born calf, made sense. It’s a kind of miracle of creation, which goes wrong, and which gives the impression of rising.”
2.
Cosmos Paintings
“I like the idea of producing a show that is out of the world, out of the earth. I made these paintings on the floor of my studio. I painted the ground, I walked on it, I threw paint, I walked on this material, I created works like this. First seascapes, then I thought that if I made black paintings, they would look like these photos of space taken by the Hubble telescope… And it worked! A black space with thousands of galaxies…”
3.
The Empress Paintings
“It’s a new series with butterflies. I had already done
Butterfly Paintings
. Here, red is very close to blood, war, love, violence, the power of emperors. But as there was also something feminine, I wanted my paintings to bear the names of the empresses of Antiquity. Normally in my work I make paintings and then prints follow. But with NFTs and changes in the printing world, I reversed the process. This is the first time I’ve started with the engravings before painting.” 4
.
The Secret Gardens Paintings
“The
Secret Gardens
are made from a large number of images of gardens. My assistants copy the photographs, then I work on top of them. I wanted to give the impression of crazy activity. I remember a gardener telling me that a garden takes ten years to exist... The good thing about gardens is controlling the uncontrollable. It's like life. I think these flowers are crazy, they oscillate between chaos and understanding. They are more shocking than my animals in formalin, especially on a sunny day! »
Damien Hirst, The Light That Shines
, an exhibition presented by Heni, until June 23, at Château La Coste, in Provence. chateau-la-coste.com and heni.com