Lot 575 D

„I started them as an endless series like a sculptural idea of a painter (myself). A scientific approach to painting similar to the drug companies' scientific approach to life. Art doesn't purport to have all the answers; the drug companies do. Hence the title of the series, the Pharmaceutical Paintings, and the individual titles of the paintings themselves: Acetaldehyde (1991), Albumin Human Glycated (1992), Androstanolone (1993), Arabinitol (1994), etc.
Art is like medicine - it can heal. Yet I've always been amazed at how many people believe in medicine but don't believe in art, without questioning either. [...] In the spot paintings the grid-like structure creates the beginning of a system. On each painting no two colors are the same. This ends the system; it's a simple system. No matter how I feel as an artist or a painter, the paintings end up looking happy.” (Damien Hirst, On dumb painting, in: Gagosian Gallery (Hg.), Damien Hirst, The Complete Spot Paintings, 1986-2011, Ausst.Broschüre Gagosian Gallery, New York u.a. 2012, o.S.)

Dicetyl Phosphate war Anfang diesen Jahres Teil des Ausstellungsgroßprojekts „Damien Hirst. The Complete Spot Paintings. 1986-2011“ der Gagosian Gallery: Die Galerie zeigte in allen 11 Dependancen in New York, Beverly Hills, London, Paris, Rom, Athen, Genf und Hong Kong zeitgleich insgesamt 331 spot paintings. Dies erlaubte erstmals die direkte Gegenüberstellung aller Aspekte des Werkkomplexes, der „sculptural idea“ des Künstlers, vom Initiationswerk spot painting aus dem Jahr 1986, in dem die Punkte noch überlappend Schlieren ziehen, über die rasterförmig exakt bemalten Großformate der folgenden Jahre bis hin zum letzten Werk (2011), in dem die Punkte nur noch millimetergroß sind.