Texts by Victor Pinchuk, Eckhard Schneider, Michael Bracewell and Q & A between Damien Hirst and Takashi Murakami

Text in English and Ukrainian

Requiem I catalogues each of Hirst’s works exhibited at the Pinchuk Art Center, Kiev, Ukraine, in April 2009: over 90 in total. Featuring iconic early pieces from the 1990s through to the new, previously unseen skull paintings, the book is testament to the vast range of Hirst’s output. Michael Bracewell’s extensive essay examines the conceptual and technical developments in the artist’s career within the wider context of his cultural influence.

Born in Bristol in 1965, Damien Hirst grew up in Leeds and studied at Goldsmiths College, London. Most notable amongst the exhibitions he curated whilst at college was Freeze, in 1988, in which he exhibited his work and that of his contemporaries. The exhibition is widely believed to have been the starting point of the Young British Artists’ careers, and a defining moment in kick-starting cutting edge British contemporary art.

Hirst’s body of work confronts the scientific, philosophical and religious aspects of human existence and includes sculpture, painting, drawing and printmaking. Arguably the world’s most famous living artist, he has exhibited widely and was awarded the Turner Prize in 1995 for ‘The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living’. In 2004, Hirst collaborated with Sarah Lucas and Angus Fairhurst to exhibit recent works at Tate Britain, under the title In-a-Gadda-da-Vida. In 2006, works from the artist’s murderme collection were exhibited at the Serpentine gallery, London: ‘In the darkest hour there may be light. ‘

Hirst’s work can be found in several important collections worldwide, including Tate, London, UK; British Council, UK; MoMA, New York, USA; Hirshorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington DC, USA; National Galleries of Scotland, Edinburgh, UK; Broad Art Foundation; Centraal Museum, Utrecht, Netherlands; Neue Galerie Graz, Austria and State Museum of Berlin, Germany.