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Lot Essay
“Hirst introduced butterflies to his work more than 20 years ago, at his first solo show In and Out of Love in 1991… Butterflies, dead or alive, have become one of main ingredients of Hirst's repertoire of materials. Aesthetically seductive, they epitomise the artist's ongoing concern with key themes of human existence such as beauty and death, science and religion.
For his butterfly paintings, Hirst uses natural butterflies, generally setting them against a canvas painted in a single bright colour. They are frequently either arranged in a dense mosaic, recalling stained-glass windows, or scattered loosely across a canvas painted with household gloss. The works comprising The Souls on Jacob's Ladder Take Their Flight are a dramatic departure from this formula. Here, Hirst confronts us with gigantic butterflies set against a stark background of somber black. At first glance their colours seem natural but they are, in fact, entirely of the artist's own choosing.
…The title of the series stems from an episode in the life of Jacob, the biblical patriarch. The Book of Genesis relates a story where Jacob, whilst fleeing from his brother Esau, has a vision of a ladder extending from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. One allegorical interpretation of this story sees the angels as representing souls. Despite imbuing the series with religious connotations, Hirst also establishes a sense of doubt and disbelief through the title, that has the souls escaping, taking flight.” (Charles Booth-Clibborn, Contemporary Art in Print: The publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and his imprint The Paragon Press, 2006-2010, p. 323-324)
For his butterfly paintings, Hirst uses natural butterflies, generally setting them against a canvas painted in a single bright colour. They are frequently either arranged in a dense mosaic, recalling stained-glass windows, or scattered loosely across a canvas painted with household gloss. The works comprising The Souls on Jacob's Ladder Take Their Flight are a dramatic departure from this formula. Here, Hirst confronts us with gigantic butterflies set against a stark background of somber black. At first glance their colours seem natural but they are, in fact, entirely of the artist's own choosing.
…The title of the series stems from an episode in the life of Jacob, the biblical patriarch. The Book of Genesis relates a story where Jacob, whilst fleeing from his brother Esau, has a vision of a ladder extending from earth to heaven with angels ascending and descending. One allegorical interpretation of this story sees the angels as representing souls. Despite imbuing the series with religious connotations, Hirst also establishes a sense of doubt and disbelief through the title, that has the souls escaping, taking flight.” (Charles Booth-Clibborn, Contemporary Art in Print: The publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and his imprint The Paragon Press, 2006-2010, p. 323-324)