Where the Land Meets the Sea, an exhibition of new paintings by Damien Hirst, many of which have never been shown before, opens at Phillips in London on Thursday 20 July 2023. The show launches a drop on the HENI Primary digital platform.
The exhibition features new paintings from three series – Coast Paintings, Sea Paintings, and Seascapes. They are inspired by Hirst’s lifelong connection to the sea and particularly evoke his pastime of walking on the beach watching the sea, most recently in the UK during the winter. They draw influence from Abstract Expressionism, specifically Robert Motherwell’s “Beside the Sea” paintings from the 1960s.
Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd.
© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS/Artimage 2023.
Coast Paintings is a series of abstract action paintings named after British seaside locations. The paintings began their life as grey canvases which were laid on the floor of Hirst’s studio while he painted his acclaimed Cherry Blossoms series, catching the ricochets of paint intended for the blossoms. Recognising the beauty of these chance colour splatters, Hirst developed these canvases into a series of paintings.
Sea Paintings marks the latest iteration in Hirst’s long-established practice of producing paintings after photographs, freezing in greyscale the power and energy of coastal storms.
Seascapes use the photorealistic scenes of Sea Paintings as the basis onto which Hirst creates additional and tactile layers of action through splattered paint.
A catalogue of the complete series is available. The exhibition is being presented with the support of the artist’s galleries, Gagosian and White Cube.
