Suiko
Damien Hirst
Suiko
Laminated giclée with glitter
2022
An original hand-signed Damien Hirst giclée print.
2022
Laminated giclée print on aluminum composite, screen printed with glitter.
Hand-signed on the label on the verso Damien Hirst.
A superb example from the edition of 3310, numbered on the label verso. One of five plates from the series The Empresses. Published by Heni Editions, London.
Catalog: Heni H10-4
Size Image: 39 3/8 x 39 3/8 inches
Suiko, a composition which evokes life in many ways, is titled after the first recorded empress of Japan. Though legend says that several females had ruled before Suiko (554-628 CE), her rise to power after her brother Sushun was murdered in 592 CE marked a break with tradition of installing male rulers. Suiko is remembered for the Chinese and Korean influences she brought to the country, including the implementation of the Chinese calendar, the arrival of Chinese and Korean craftsmen, and, perhaps most notably, the establishment of Buddhism.
In Suiko, variously sized paired wings emanate from the work’s center, producing a symmetrical concentric circle, a compositional arrangement that recalls Buddhist symbolism and the life cycle. This circular pattern is strikingly defined by glittering lines of red that diagonally cross the composition from the center to meet each corner. With the wings set against a red background, the lines shoot through the pairs of disembodied wings where the bodies once existed.
As is true of each work from the series, Suiko appears in a constant state of transformation, the butterflies moving and evolving the longer one stands before the work. While the intricacies can be truly appreciated up close to the print, from afar the composition takes on a new life. From this vantage point, Suiko reveals itself to have a ballooning arrangement of wings, which are organized around the central pattern of concentric circles and complimented by external arrangements of further wings. This arrangement is akin to a biological or molecular structure, evocative of the organisms that it depicts.
Since the beginning of his career Hirst has interacted with the butterfly, one of his best-known motifs. Inspired by a chance encounter in his studio and the intricate patterns found on Victorian tea trays, in The Empresses Hirst develops on the complex compositions he invented in his Kaleidoscope Paintings and Mandalas series.
The Empresses prints are symmetrical, asymmetrical, and spiral patterns of meticulously organized butterflies that nonetheless exude hope and life – the butterflies feel as if they are taking flight. This effect is in part aided by the material, laminated Giclée print on aluminum composite, screen printed with glitter, which allows the butterfly wings to be presented in such detail that they appear lifelike.
The images of wings inspire awe and are framed by glitter, a fantastically tactile material previously used by Hirst in his paintings. Glitter is loved for its playfulness and joy – a sentiment echoed in the play-on-words of the series title itself, which alludes to both female rulers and the Empress Butterfly.
Hirst has consistently used butterflies for their associations to freedom, religion, life and death. The Empresses illuminates and sheds light on these themes. Through this new series, these themes become intertwined with glory, female power and the development of nations, visible through the entrancing twists and turns of these five dazzling and vital visual celebrations.
