Damien Hirst Counts his Spot Paintings for Catalogue Raisonne
- June 12, 2013 22:53
A catalogue raisonné of contemporary artist Damien Hirst's work will reveal just how many of his easily recognizable spot-paintings there are.
The official count is 1,365 spot paintings. Each is comprised of rows of randomly colored circles created by Hirst's assistants. The size of the dots varies in different paintings.
Both derided and adored, the iconic works, made by Hirst since the 1980s, are among his central works to be analyzed in the new book, to be releaseed this fall by his publisher Other Criteria.
New York Times writer Graham Bowley notes, "The catalog, beyond providing scholarly luster, could well boost prices for the paintings, which in the past 18 months have sold for $53,000 to $1.7 million, by reassuring buyers who suspected there were many more in the series."
The catalogue will also help curb forgeries.
Gagosian Gallery mounted a Hirst spot painting retrospective in 2012.
![Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.](/images/c/e2/2e/Jan20_Rape_of_Europa100x100_c.jpg "Peter Paul Rubens (Flemish, 1577–1640), After Titian (Tiziano Vecelli) (Italian [Venetian], c. 1488–1576), Rape of Europa, 1628–29. Oil on canvas, 71 7/8 x 79 3/8 in.")
