The 'Rainbow Butterfly Heart' by Damien Hirst displays Hirst’s iconic winged motif in a vivid rainbow of color, promoting a vision of peace, joy, and positivity. This series of rainbow works was created and released in 2020 to lend support to the U.K.’s National Health Service (NHS) during the COVID-19 pandemic. The works were created with intention for all proceeds to benefit the NHS. Hirst stated, “I wanted to do something to pay tribute to the wonderful work NHS staff are doing in hospitals around the country. The rainbow is a sign of hope and I think it is brilliant that parents and children are creating their own version and putting them up in the windows of their homes.” The laminated giclée print on an aluminum composite panel is custom framed in a heart, completing the work's unique size and shape. The Rainbow Heart is a limited edition of only 1,698 created, and comes directly from the Artist with digital signature on verso.
Damien Hirst is a British contemporary master artist and entrepreneur recognized for his iconic artworks that have defined the contemporary art world for over a decade. His varied practice, which includes installation, sculpture, painting, and drawing, explores the complex relationships between life, death, art, religion, and science. Hirst was born in Bristol in 1965 and grew up in Leeds, England. In 1984, he moved to London, where he worked in construction before enrolling at Goldsmiths University of London, in 1986 to study fine art. While at Goldsmiths, Hirst organized the independent student exhibition Freeze, which has become legendary as the originating moment of the Young British Artists (YBAs). Freeze, which exhibited Hirst’s first spot paintings, launched Hirst and 15 of his fellow students to fame, making their place in art history. In 1991, Charles Saatchi, offering to fund Hirst’s artwork, mounted the first Young British Artists (YBA) exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Among the works exhibited was The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), a shark submerged in a formaldehyde vitrine, which became an overnight sensation. As a result of the show, Hirst was nominated for that year's Turner Prize. Hirst again won the Turner Prize in 1995 for his piece, Mother and Child Divided, which consists of a cow and a calf each bisected and held within its own glass case. Hirst is well recognized for his spot paintings, medicine cabinet motifs, brightly colored spin paintings, kaleidoscopic butterflies, and diamond-encrusted skulls. Since 1987, over 80 solo Damien Hirst exhibitions have taken place worldwide and his work has been included in over 260 group shows. He has permanent sculptural installations across the globe and is the UK's richest living artist. Hirst continues to work and create art in the present day, with his recent focus primarily on paintings.
To learn more about Damien Hirst and see other available artworks, please visit our website: www.artoncontemporary.com/damien-hirst
