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The Empresses, H10-1 Wu Zetian

Damien Hirst

The Empresses, H10-1 Wu Zetian

2022

Laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite panel, screen printed with glitter

100 × 100 cm

Ed. / 2853 — Signed and numbered, including Printed COA

Location: London, United Kingdom

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4,950 € 4950.0 EUR 4,950 €

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About the artwork

The Empresses,H10-1 Wu Zetian belongs to The Empresses,a group of kaleidoscopic butterfly compositions named for historically influential women. Mirrored wings create a radial,almost heraldic structure,while red color and glitter intensify the decorative surface. The edition combines symmetry,natural imagery and luxurious production to address beauty,power and mortality. The stated technique is laminated Giclée print on aluminium composite panel,screenprinted with glitter. It measures approximately 100 × 100 cm. The high-resolution printed surface is mounted to a rigid aluminium composite panel,giving the image the physical presence of an object rather than a conventional sheet of paper. Saturated color and edge-to-edge detail reinforce the series’ balance between visual excess and tightly controlled production.

Expert opinion

The Empresses associates the butterfly,one of Hirst’s most recognizable symbols,with women who exercised political or cultural power. Naming this composition after Wu Zetian gives the ornamental symmetry a historical frame without turning it into a literal portrait. The intense red and glittering surface make beauty feel ceremonial,seductive and inseparable from ideas of mortality. As a work by Damien Hirst,The Empresses,H10-1 Wu Zetian is notable because it uses repetition and controlled variation to connect visual pleasure with impermanence.

About the artist

Born in Bristol in 1965, Damien Hirst is one of the UK's most influential contemporary artists. He studied at Goldsmiths College in London, where in 1988 he organized Freeze, an emblematic exhibition that launched the Young British Artists movement. This initiative attracted the attention of influential collectors, including Charles Saatchi, and propelled Hirst onto the art scene. His artistic approach revolves around the themes of life, death and mortality, with works such as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (a shark preserved in formaldehyde). His work often marries science and art, exploring the beauty and fragility of human existence through provocative materials and striking installations.Hirst has exhibited at prestigious institutions such as the Tate Modern (London) and the Museo Archeologico Nazionale (Naples). In 2008, he defied the art market by auctioning his work directly at Sotheby's, raising £111 million in two days, a record for a living artist.

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