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Lot Essay
"Hirst's Spot paintings are all grouped under the general title of The Pharmaceutical Paintings, each carries the name of a different drug or chemical used in the pharmaceutical production. The first Spot etchings Hirst made, Methamphetamine and Tetrahydrocannabinol, are impressive for their large scale and the saturated, velvety colours obtained through the aquatint process. Each of the two prints contains 162 spots, each in a different colour. Each spot measures two inches in diameter. The printing process was extremely labour-intensive. It took three printers and about three hours to ink the copper plate.
...There is an uncanniness underlying the beauty of the colour figuration - the eye is longing in vain to find harmony in the image. Periodically returning to the Spot paintings, which because of the number of drugs available are a potentially endless series, Hirst has adapted the central idea to many formats. Like the products of the pharmaceutical industry, which they mimic to some extent, Hirst's Spot prints have since come in all shapes and sizes. The connection between the name of the chemical constellation and the figuration of the coloured dots is random. The beauty of the dots is in strong contrast with the nature of the chemical substance...The names of the Spot prints point towards another reality: behind the beauty of the appearance lies illness, addiction, intoxication and, finally, death. The discrepancy between the beauty of the prints and the malicious chemical substances that give them their name, hints at the fragility of life itself" (Booth-Clibborn, Charles, and Simm, Florian-Oliver. Contemporary Art in Print: The Publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and His Imprint the Paragon Press, 2001-2006 / Edited by Etienne Lullin and Florian Simm. London: Paragon Press and Contemporary Editions, Ltd., 2006, pp. 314-315).
...There is an uncanniness underlying the beauty of the colour figuration - the eye is longing in vain to find harmony in the image. Periodically returning to the Spot paintings, which because of the number of drugs available are a potentially endless series, Hirst has adapted the central idea to many formats. Like the products of the pharmaceutical industry, which they mimic to some extent, Hirst's Spot prints have since come in all shapes and sizes. The connection between the name of the chemical constellation and the figuration of the coloured dots is random. The beauty of the dots is in strong contrast with the nature of the chemical substance...The names of the Spot prints point towards another reality: behind the beauty of the appearance lies illness, addiction, intoxication and, finally, death. The discrepancy between the beauty of the prints and the malicious chemical substances that give them their name, hints at the fragility of life itself" (Booth-Clibborn, Charles, and Simm, Florian-Oliver. Contemporary Art in Print: The Publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and His Imprint the Paragon Press, 2001-2006 / Edited by Etienne Lullin and Florian Simm. London: Paragon Press and Contemporary Editions, Ltd., 2006, pp. 314-315).