Damien Hirst Exhibition

Last month I visited the Damien Hirst exhibition that was scattered around the18th century house and gardens of Houghton Hall in North Norfolk. The exhibition ran from 25th March to 15th July and consisted of Hirst’s Colour Space paintings, large outdoor sculptures along with smaller sculptures.

I was aware of his sculptures but had never seen them in the flesh so I thought this would be a great opportunity to really complete the set as it were after attending the Tate Modern's retrospective of his work a few years ago. I was also interesting to see his development on his original spot colour work that I had seen previously. 

Hirst's Colour Space paintings were hung around the the main building bringing together the 18th century interior with the abstract contemporary colours spots. There was no photography allowed in the main building but each Colour Space painting (there was quite a few) there was no colour that was the same and each spot was a different shape. 

My personal highlight were the sculptures named ‘Myth & Legend’. which stood outside the main building. The sculptures Legend (a winged horse) and a Unicorn (Myth) both had been partially flayed to reveal muscle and bone. In further research Hirst said the pieces were a continuation of his interest in the relationship between science and religion. "In a way science brings religion down to earth and to cut open mythical creatures and expose them as no different to mortal horses is somehow still magical. It's kind of like exploding a myth to make it real.” 

Also as part of the permanent collection at Houghton Hall there was a collection of artworks dotted about the gardens by a variety of different contemporary artists. In particular there was a piece by Rachael Whiteread called ‘Houghton Hut’ that I was quite eager to see as I previously missed her exhibition at the Tate Britain last year. Another installation that intrigued me was James Turrell’s ‘Raemar Magenta’ which was housed in the former horse stables is a monolithic rectangular piece that comprises a clear strip of light on an illuminated blue backdrop.

At the time of writing this post the exhibition is over however I would still recommend going to Houghton Hall to see the permanent collection they have.