Damien Hirst - Civilisation Rising

Civilisation by Damien Hirst is a series of four unique prints after his latest series of The Civilisation Paintings which explore the necessity of hope despite the complexities and challenges of contemporary civilisation.

In each work, the artist depicts memories or feelings of cities: evoking the exuberant series The Secret Gardens Paintings – metropolitan areas are set amongst thriving vegetation, forming bright, imagined landscapes.

Realistic elements are contrasted with other elements such as Pointillist techniques and thrown paint. Evoking the themes of chaos and hope at the heart of the series, the artist favours the latter practice for its lack of control, embodying his maxim ‘You just have to believe’. Hirst also overlays the compositions with coloured spots arranged in grids, made using the tops of his paint tubes. These formations, immediately recalling his Spot Paintings, are implemented to evoke the sense of the ordered and engineered elements of cities, which randomly decay and are replaced.