Walking past the windows of our gallery on New Bond Street you will currently experience the magnetic pull of the vibrant yellow butterfly 'The Souls on Jacob's Ladder Take Their Flight' by renowned British artist Damien Hirst. Hirst is known for his deeply contemplative works, continuously exploring the vast topics of life, beautify and death.
Though widely known for his large, bold and colourful spot paintings, Hirst has also gravitated towards the more intricate and delicate theme of butterflies. Hirst has spoken about his own fears of morality and death, describing his art as a way of confronting his fears and overcoming them. During the 1980s, he became fascinated with how insects would become stuck and enveloped within the primer he laid down onto his canvases, as if preserved like a delicate fossil, frozen in time. This inspired a new artistic venture for Hirst, who began to experiment with fragile butterfly wings, arranging them into intricate compositions that resemble stained glass windows, kaleidoscopes or religious altarpieces.
The religious theme continues within our butterfly, ‘The Souls on Jacob's Ladder Take Their Flight’. This work was created as part of a portfolio of six aquatint and photogravure etchings. The title refers to the biblical story of Jacob fleeing his brother and dreaming of a ladder bridging Earth and Heaven. Jacob imagines angels ascending and descending the ladder. Hirst alters this biblical tale and through his title suggests that the souls ‘take their flight’ instead. He transforms the butterflies themselves become these souls. Unlike his kaleidoscopic images of butterflies, Hirst chooses to isolate the butterfly and creates a single monumental silhouette against a silky, matte-black background. A beautiful, enigmatic image that’s a must see this summer.
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