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Lot Essay
“Hirst first introduced spot compositions at the groundbreaking Freeze exhibition staged in an empty Port Authority building in London's docklands in 1988. Among work by his contemporaries at Goldsmiths College, Hirst, who was one of the main organizers of the show, exhibited wall drawings of colourful spots arranged in a tight geometrical grid. Spot paintings, drawings and prints have since become one of the main strands of his artistic output.
From the outset Hirst conceived the spot works as a continuous series with endless possibilities and one simple rule: the same colour must never be repeated in any one work. Only the very early spot paintings were executed by Hirst; as soon as he was able afford it, he hired assistants to paint them for him. Hirst's spot paintings have had a lasting influence on design, advertising and popular culture, not least through Hirst's own company Other Criteria, which has published a wide range of products with the spot motif, designed by the artist.
…All spot works are titled after drugs or chemical compounds used in the pharmaceutical industry and have therefore come to be known as the Pharmaceutical works.” (Charles Booth-Clibborn, Contemporary Art in Print: The publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and his imprint The Paragon Press, 2006-2010, p. 324-325)
From the outset Hirst conceived the spot works as a continuous series with endless possibilities and one simple rule: the same colour must never be repeated in any one work. Only the very early spot paintings were executed by Hirst; as soon as he was able afford it, he hired assistants to paint them for him. Hirst's spot paintings have had a lasting influence on design, advertising and popular culture, not least through Hirst's own company Other Criteria, which has published a wide range of products with the spot motif, designed by the artist.
…All spot works are titled after drugs or chemical compounds used in the pharmaceutical industry and have therefore come to be known as the Pharmaceutical works.” (Charles Booth-Clibborn, Contemporary Art in Print: The publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and his imprint The Paragon Press, 2006-2010, p. 324-325)