Gagosian

Damien Hirst, The Ascension, 2003

Glass, painted stainless steel, silicone, acrylic, monofilament, calf, and formaldehyde solution, 94 ¼ × 67 ⅜ × 24 ⅛ inches (239.2 × 171 × 61.1 cm)
© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2022
Photo Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd

Natural History
Opening March 10, 2022
Gagosian
Britannia Street, London

“I wanted a shark that’s big enough to eat you, and in a large enough amount of liquid so that you could imagine you were in there with it.”
—Damien Hirst

Gagosian is pleased to present Natural History, the first-ever exhibition dedicated to Damien Hirst’s groundbreaking works employing formaldehyde. The exhibition—part of Hirst’s takeover of the Britannia Street gallery—will survey more than twenty of the most iconic examples, dating from 1991 to 2021.

Ever since he first exploded into the public consciousness in 1991 with The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a fourteen-foot tiger shark preserved in a tank of formaldehyde, Hirst has used the naturally occurring compound in many of his best-known works. Embodying his ongoing drive to bridge the gap between art and science, the Natural History series includes a variety of preserved animals, such as sheep, doves, a zebra, and even a “unicorn”—some of which are bisected, sliced into cross sections, or flayed. This exhibition, which features works spanning a thirty-year period, gathers many of these works together for the first time.

Gagosian