Damien Hirst: ‘Forgiving and Forgetting’

Until April 16th, Damien Hirst unveils works never shown before in the United States from his series, Forgiving and Forgetting at Gagosian in Chelsea, New York. The shipwrecked Disney sculptures include icons Goofy, Mickey and Minnie Mouse. Originally from Hirst’s monumental project, Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, the series “presents sculptural relics from a fictional shipwreck off the coast of East Africa, playing fast and loose with linear time, cultural origin, and perceptions of relative status and value.”

A sort of imagination of globally exported American culture via the story of Atlantis or Alexandria, where ancient relics are still being discovered, the works bring into question the rise and fall of civilizations, idolatry, and figures that define our culture, much like the gods did for ancient Greece. In fact, the sculptures are “carved from pink Portuguese marble and white Carrara marble, immortalizing each figure in one of the most storied materials in Western art history.”

Juxtaposed to these sculptures are Hirst’s latest series, the Reverence Paintings. Recalling Hirst’s famous dot paintings and Dan Colen’s chewing gum works, this series seeks to “add both perspectival grounding and visual haze to each composition.”

Explore a selection of the works below, courtesy of Damien Hirst and Gagosian Gallery.

Damien Hirst
Forgiving and Forgetting
January 20 – April 16
Gagosian, 541 West 24th Street, New York

gagosian.com

Images: © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2022 Photo: Prudence Cuming Associates Ltd
Courtesy Gagosian