Daydreams Blossom, 2021 by Damien Hirst

Daydreams Blossom; Oil on card, mounted on birch ply frames, with canvas webbing around the edges; Titled Daydreams Blossom, signed Damien Hirst, and dated 2021 in oil paint by the artist verso; Allocated by HENI Primary, London UK (PB462, 2021); Size - 24 1/2 x 16 1/2", Frame 24 1/4 x 17 1/2"; Framed in an acrylic box.

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"I want them to make you feel good, feel happy, I want you to get lost in them. And I want them to feel like summer, I want you to forget your troubles if you have any, for a moment and enjoy the idea of flowers, of sunlight and of cherry blossoms and I want you to love the chaos and celebration of the splattered paint. Is that wrong for me to want that? Does that make me a hippy?" - Damien Hirst

 

Damien Hirst (b. 1965) is an English artist and art collector that was part of the YBAs (Young British Artists) that dominated the UK art scene of the 1990's. During this time he was linked to art collector Charles Saatchi, who acquired early works by Hirst and was an advocate of his work. Death is a central theme in Hirst's works with his most famous artistic series being dead animals (shark, sheep, cow, etc) sometimes dissected, and preserved in glass vitrines of formaldehyde. The most famous of the series is "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," is a 14-foot tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde suspended in a clear glass display case. Hirst deals with the complex relationships between art, beauty, science, religion, life and death. He has also created "Spin Paintings" by adding paint onto a spinning circular surface, and "Spot Paintings" which are rows of random colored circles painted by assistants.

In September 2008, Damien Hirst was able to sell a complete show entitled "Beautiful Inside my Head Forever" at Sotheby's auction; thus making the unprecedented move of bypassing his long standing galleries. The auction netted $198 million, breaking the record for a single artist auction as well as breaking the auction record for Damien Hirst when "The Golden Calf," a calf with 18-carat gold horns and hooves preserved in formaldehyde, sold for $18.4 million. In 2020 Hirst is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist with his wealth estimated at $384 million. 

 

In 2018 Damien Hirst created a series of large scale painting of "Cherry Blossoms," and in 2021 he opted for a more intimate scale for the "Paper Blossoms" series. With "Paper Blossoms" the cropping of the cherry blossoms picture became more focused, bringing the viewer to a more focused state of observation and exploration. The series is composed of 900 oil paintings on card of cherry blossoms, mounted on birch ply frames, with canvas webbing around the edges. Each is signed, dated, and titled by Hirst on the verso. The 900 paintings are composed of 300 large paintings measuring 84.2 x 59.6 cm and 600 paintings measuring 59.6 x 42.1 cm.

The next two paragraphs are from the HENI Primary website about the Damien Hirst Paper Blossoms: 

"Arranged side-by-side across long tables in his studio, Hirst worked on several Paper Blossoms at a time, moving up and down the tables as he built up layers of thick, tactile paint. This process recalls the creation of his monumental Cherry Blossoms paintings: "I was getting lost in painting and wanted viewers to get lost in my paintings," he stated.

What results from this energetic practice are glimpses of the cherry blossom trees, views of their sprawling branches and gravity-defying blossoms. This intentional and careful use of framing to create more intimate experiences for viewers has long been part of Hirst's practice, stretching back to his infamous formaldehyde sculptures. As the artist said, "I just wanted it to be in your face. I want you to feel like you're too close to it, you know. All the work I've made - you know, the sharks, everything, all that sort of stuff - I want it to be aggressive and in your face. I want you to have a physical reaction to it.""

 

Damien Hirst painting the "Paper Blossoms."

Damien Hirst painting the "Paper Blossoms."

"Paper Blossoms" on folding table work surfaces.

"Paper Blossoms" on folding table work surfaces.

Damien Hirst painting the "Paper Blossoms."

Verso of framed "Daydreams Blossom," 2021 by Damien Hirst

In order to paint the 'Paper Blossoms," Damien Hirst arranged long tables end to end, simultaneously worked on multiple pieces, and applied thick textured paint in layers in order to bring the pieces to life. "Daydreams Blossom" is an exceptional work and one of the best paintings from the series. The image is beautifully rendered in thick strokes, dots, and splashes of oil paint that creates a field of explosive color. The blossoms and leaves are dynamic and create a push pull effect against the blue sky and brown tree branches. This is an absolutely fantastic unique work by Damien Hirst and would be a standout of any art collection!

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Paris Blue Basket Set, 2001 by Dale Chihuly

Paris Blue Basket Set, 2001; Hand-blown glass composed of seven elements; Incised signature and date to one element 'Chihuly 01'; Size: 12 x 13 1/4 x 12 1/2".

To purchase this work or to visit the Art Gallery, CLICK HERE!

"My work, to this day revolves around a simple set of circumstances: fire, molten glass, human breath, spontaneity, centrifugal force, gravity." - Dale Chihuly 

 

Dale Chihuly was born on September 20, 1941 and is an American glass sculptor. His works are considered to be exceptional in the field of blown glass; and he has adapted the technical difficulties of the medium to explore and implement installations, as well as environment specific artwork.

Chihuly first began experimenting with glass blowing in 1965 and began an extensive education centered around sculpture. He earned a Master of Fine Arts degree in sculpture from the Rhode Island School of Design in 1968; and that same year was awarded a Louis Comfort Tiffany Foundation grant for his work in glass, as well as a Fulbright Fellowship. He traveled to Venice to work at the Venini factory on the island of Murano, where he first saw the team approach to glass blowing. In 1976, while in England, he was involved in a head-on-car crash which propelled him through the windshield. His face was severely cut by glass and he was permanently blinded in his left eye. After recovering, he continued to blow glass until he dislocated his right shoulder in 1979 while body surfing.

 

Paris Blue Basket Set, 2001 by Dale Chihuly

Close up of the Paris Blue Basket Set, 2001 by Dale Chihuly

No longer able to hold a glassblowing pipe, he was able to utilize the team approach to glass blowing he had seen in Murano, and hired other artists to do the physical work. Chihuly explained the change saying, "Once I stepped back, I liked the view." He felt liberated and more free to see the work from multiple perspectives, and the change enabled him to anticipate problems earlier and to react. His role in the studio changed from participate, to supervisor and problem solver. One of the most critically acclaimed series by Chihuly was the Macchia series. Macchia, which is Italian for spot, was begun in 1981 and continues today. 

"Baskets was the breakthrough series for me as an artist." - Dale Chihuly

In 1977, Chihuly found inspiration in the woven American Indian baskets of the Washington State Historical Society in Tocoma, Washington. Chihuly stated, "I saw some beautiful Northwest Coast Indian baskets at the Washington State Historical Society, and was struck by the grace of their slumped, sagging forms. I wanted to capture this grace in glass." Chihuly had been a student of weaving and he was interesting in translating the art form into glass. He began his glassblowing by exploring a more organic and less symmetrical approach and his Basket series has evolved to include small subdued sculptures to large dramatic pieces that deal with color and transparency in unique ways. Some of the Basket pieces would reach six feet in length and containing as many as 20 smaller elements, and he worked the glass to be very thin in certain areas to create as transparency allowing the viewer to see through the outer vessel and visually explore the interior that contains other organic glass forms. 

Close up of the incised signature and date.

Chihuly and his team of artists have been the subjects of several documentaries, extensive printed articles, monographs, and collections. For a complete list of Museum collections, please click on the link below:

Dale Chihuly Museum Collections

"Paris Blue Basket Set," 2001 by Dale Chihuly is an exceptional example of Dale Chihuly at his best. This large set is composed of seven brilliant blue pieces each with a black lip. The large basket starts as a dark blue color near the top and then quickly fades to a thiner transparent clear glass, to allow the viewer to see the other art objects inside the basket. An absolutely stunning, large, and complex piece of modern glass by the most important glass artist of his time, and a standout of any art collection!

#Chihuly #DaleChihuly #Artglass #Blownglass #Basket #glass #Art #artist #untitledartgallery #BasketSeries