One of the works presented at the Rudolfinum (photo: Galerie Rudolfinum)

Damien Hirst, best known as part of the "Young British Artists" and for his "statues" of shee, cows, or sharks in formaldehyde, brings a new exhibiti to Prague. Fascinated with death, Hirst's work seduces the viewer with its often grotesque visions of mortality, which is always depicted as that final moment of no return – the moment of final truth. But the art of Damien Hirst does not present the amortization of death, instead offering a renewal of aesthetic perception. Hirst’s shocking spectacle transformed that which was once considered grotesque or rejected as an expression of “poor taste” into something sublime – a new type of beauty.

Hirst studied at Goldsmith's College in London and achieved his first international success at the Venice biennale. He acquired a firm position on the global map of the art world after he became the laureate of the Turner award in 1995 for his work "Mother and Child, Divided”). Hirst’s work includes sculpture, installation and painting together. Objects of animals depicted in significantly modified circumstances and relations are typical and very well known (cuts of sheep or cows or sharks in formaldehyde). Other ready-made objects which Hirst often utilizes are medical instrumentations from a characteristically cold, clinical view. Hirst’s paintings, though seemingly more decorative in their perception, utilize various automatic procedures.

• Damien Hirst: Life, Death and Love
• 28 May - 30 August
• Rudolfinum Gallery, Alšovo nábřeží 12
• Open Tue-Sun 10 am - 6 pm (Thu until 8 pm)