PAUL STOLPER GALLERY PRESENTS 'TEH SOULS' BY DAMIEN HIRST

PAUL STOLPER AND OTHER CRITERIA PRESENT THE LAUNCH OF 'THE SOULS' BY DAMIEN HIRST. FOR THIS LANDMARK PROJECT, HIRST HAS INTENSIFIED HIS CAREER-LONG FASCINATION WITH BEAUTY, FRAGILITY AND SYMBOLISM OF BUTTERFLIES TO CREATE A SPECTACULAR AND MULTI-ALLUSIVE EVOCATION OF MORALITY. MORE THAN THAT OF ANY CONTEMPORARY ARTIST, AND IN A MODERN LINEAGE THAT INCLUDES THE WORKS OF ANDY WARHOL AND FRANCIS BACON, THE ART OF DAMIEN HIRST CONFRONTS THE BALANCE BETWEEN LIFE AND DEATH, VANITY AND TRANSIENCE, VALUE AND WORTH, FAITH AND EXISTENTIAL ALIENATION WITHIN A VISCERAL AND TERRIFYING IMMEDIACY. HIRST'S CHOICES OF MEDIA, HIS INNOVATIONS WITHIN THEM AND THE SHEER SCALE ON WHICH HE WORKS, ARE INTEGRAL TO THE PHILOSOPHICAL DEPTH AND EMPATHETIC CHARGES OF HIS ART; AND TO THIS END, HIRST HAS ALWAYS PIONEERED IN HIS WORK THE USES, AESTHETICS AND ALLEGORICAL MEANINGS OF SCIENCE AND TECHNOLOGY, AS WELL AS REFINING A HIGHLY SOPHISTICATED ENGAGEMENT WITH CRAFT AND TECHNIQUE. TO REALIZE 'THE SOULS', HIRST HAS FILLED THE PAUL STOLPER GALLERY WITH 120 FRAMED, FOIL BLOCK BUTTERFLY PRINTS. IN TOTAL 'THE SOULS' IS MADE UP OF 4 BUTTERFLIES, IN 80 DIFFERENT COLOURWAYS, EACH ONE IN AN EDITION OF 15. VIBRANT WITH HUE, THE FINISHED EFFECT OF EACH PRINT IS THAT OF A RESONANT TENSION BETWEEN THE STILLNESS OF DEATH AND THE TREMBLING, IRIDESCENT LIFE THAT THE INDIVIDUAL BUTTERFLIES CONVEY. 'THE SOULS' IS THEREFORE QUINTESSENTIALLY HIRSTIAN, COMBING THE IMPACT OF VISUAL SPECTACLE WITH POWERFULLY ELOQUENT CONFLUENCE OF MEDIUM AND VISUAL LANGUAGE. HIRST'S FASCINATION WITH BUTTERFLIES DERIVES IN LARGE PART FROM THE WAY IN WHICH THESE BEAUTIFUL INSECTS EMBODY BOTH THE BEAUTY AND THE IMPERMANENCE OF LIFE, BECOMING SYMBOLS OF FAITH AND MORALITY. OF 'THE SOULS' HE HAS SAID: 'I LOVE BUTTERFLIES BECAUSE WHEN THEY ARE DEAD THEY LOOK ALIVE. THE FOIL BLOCK MAKES THE BUTTERFLIES HAVE A FEEL SIMILAR TO THE ACTUAL BUTTERFLIES IN THE WAY THAT THEY REFLECT THE LIGHT. AFTER 'THE DEAD' I HAD TO DO THE BUTTERFLIES BECAUSE YOU CAN'T HAVE ONE WITHOUT THE OTHER.'