Pills to wake you up. Pills to put you to sleep. Pills to kill the pain, pills to make you thin, pills to make you happy, pills to make you horny, and pills to get you out of trouble the morning after. There are pills for just about everything, and they are so easy to swallow, it’s no wonder we can’t get enough of them. Damien Hirst is a big fan – in an abstract way of course (these days, at least) – and his latest exhibition Schizophrenogenesis looks at their form as a triumph of minimalist design, while also considering their marketable appeal through manipulation of colour and their derivation from the natural world.
At Paul Stolper Gallery, London, a three-metre neon sign advertising the event’s name in different coloured letters entices the viewer to step through the looking glass into the world of big business pharmaceuticals. When inside, a wall of 30 silkscreen prints called The Cure shows the classic two-colour pill in a variety of tasty-looking candy colours, and a range of large-scale sculptural works are also on display. Medicine bottles, pharmaceutical boxes, ampoules, syringes, a scalpel, and drug packaging all play with scale, as do a series of enlarged pills that question our willingness to swallow the panaceas we are sold. Schizophrenogenesis runs until 15 November.
Damien Hirst
[Left] Deltacortril Enteric 5mg 30 enteric coated tablets
Polyurethane resin with white pigment. Cap – Polyurethane resin. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
[Right] Chlordiazepoxide 5mg 24 capsules
Polyurethane resin with Tri pigments for colour. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
H 54 x W 27 x D 19cm. Cap – 22cm diameter
Damien Hirst
The Cure, 2014
Thirty prints Each: Silkscreen on Somerset Tub Sized 410gsm.
Signed and numbered. Edition of 15.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
72 x 51 cm
Damien Hirst
Hygroton (Pink)
Polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
H 30 x W 30 x D 9cm
[Middle] Zarontin PD 237
Clear polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
L 30 x D 13cm
[Right] VISKEN 5 (Mint)
Polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
H 30 x W 29 x D 7.5cm
Damien Hirst
VISKEN 5 (Baby blue)
Polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
H 30 x W 29 x D 7.5cm
Damien Hirst
[Left] Sudafed PE Sinus
Clear polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
L 30 x D 13cm
[Middle] Zarontin PD 237
Clear polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
L 30 x D 13cm
[Right] Sudafed PE
Clear polyurethane resin with ink pigment. 2014.
Edition of 30. Numbered, signed and dated in the cast.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
L 30 x D 13cm
Damien Hirst
The Cure, 2014
Thirty prints Each: Silkscreen on Somerset Tub Sized 410gsm.
Signed and numbered. Edition of 15.
Published by Paul Stolper and Other Criteria.
72 x 51 cm
Photographed by Prudence Cuming Associates,
courtesy Paul Stolper Gallery © Damien Hirst and Other Criteria,
All rights reserved, DACS 2014
