Tuesday, 11 December 2012

Damien Hirst Fertility 'Verity'

Not someone i thought i'd be blogging about in a positive manner tbh after his work with butterflies.
Daily Mail -RSPCA-attacks--Damien-Hirst-exhibition. watched-9-000-butterflies-die-walls

I did my final essay of my BTEC on Fertility & today i stumble on a news tid-bit about a statue of his being erected in Ilfracombe, Devon (UK), i google it & find this isn't his first encounter with exploring the idea of fertility in art.

I made myself vaguely familiar with his work in the first year of my BTEC, so I'm aware this isn't his first piece depicting human biology or Fertility in particular.
  1. Mother & Child Divided (1993)
  2. Sensation (2003) - Extreme close up of a 
  3. Wretched War (2004)
  4. The Virgin Mother (2005)
  5. Virgin (Exposed) (2005)
  6. Birth Cyrus (2006)
  7. We're Born, We Look Around, We Die (2006)
  8. Infertility [Male] (2007)
  9. Feminizing Testicle (2007)
  10. Malignant Testicle Tumour (2007)
  11. Verity (2012)
    The Virgin Mother (2005)
    Virgin (Exposed) 2005
    Wretched War (2004)













Facts about Verity
  • At 20.25m from plinth to sword-tip, Verity is slightly taller than the Angel Of The North
  • She weighs more than 25 tonnes
  • Verity is described a modern-day allegory for truth and justice
  • The figure's stance is taken from Edgar Degas' Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (c. 1881) referenced by Hirst in his earlier bronze Virgin Mother (2005)
  • She holds the traditional symbols denoting Justice - a sword and scales - though the scales are hidden behind her back
  • Hirst's website notes: "Without the perfect equilibrium enacted by the scales, the sword becomes a dangerous instrument of power, rather than justice"
  • Verity was made in more than 40 individual castings at Pangolin Editions foundry in Gloucestershire
  • The entire piece has been tested to ensure it can withstand high winds and sea spray

the above 3 images are from a local paper close to Verity



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