Provenance

Other Criteria, London
Catalogue Essay
Life and death, love and hate, science and religion: Damien Hirst questions systems of human belief. Influential to the artist is the fleeting existence of man, the question of the boundaries between extremes within the life cycle. Direct and simple use of raw materials allows the viewer to bypass conversation of the formal qualities of art and confront the bare essentials of human life. Thus, the work acts not only as a mirror but as awareness to the truths of existence.
Hirst’s works function not in terms of traditional aesthetic but rather as an examination of the state of humanity. The physical process of creating the work holds equivalent importance to the conceptual ideas imposed by the artist. Technological interference in nature arouses debate of the bounds of humans.
The skull, a signature image of Damien Hirst, elicits anthropological as well as theoretical dialogue regarding the history of man. As presented by the current lot, Happy Head No. 7, simple application of paint on a skull provides broad references to death, allotting poetic interpretation applicable to humanity in totality. In the present lot, Hirst married his common motif of the skull with his specific technique of painting as used in his previous Spin paintings series. Combination of previously realized ideas in his work contextualizes the artist’s pieces within the grand scheme of the progression of his career. Thus, the work is conceptually linked within the succession of his oeuvre.
Artist Biography
Damien Hirst
British • 1965
There is no other contemporary artist as maverick to the art market as Damien Hirst. Foremost among the Young British Artists (YBAs), a group of provocative artists who graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in the late 1980s, Hirst ascended to stardom by making objects that shocked and appalled, and that possessed conceptual depth in both profound and prankish ways.
Regarded as Britain's most notorious living artist, Hirst has studded human skulls in diamonds and submerged sharks, sheep and other dead animals in custom vitrines of formaldehyde. In tandem with Cheyenne Westphal, now Chairman of Phillips, Hirst controversially staged an entire exhibition directly for auction with 2008's "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever," which collectively totalled £111 million ($198 million).
Hirst remains genre-defying and creates everything from sculpture, prints, works on paper and paintings to installation and objects. Another of his most celebrated series, the 'Pill Cabinets' present rows of intricate pills, cast individually in metal, plaster and resin, in sterilized glass and steel containers; Phillips New York showed the largest of these pieces ever exhibited in the United States, The Void, 2000, in May 2017.
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18

Damien Hirst

Happy Head No. 7

2007

Gloss household paint on resin skull and wooden base.
9 1/2 x 9 x 9 1/2 in.(24.1 x 22.9 x 24.1 cm).

Signed “Damien Hirst” on the base.This work is unique from a series of ten Happy Heads.

Estimate
$70,000 - 90,000

Sold for $116,500

Contemporary Art Part I

13 Nov 2008, 7pm
New York

1
Rachel Harrison
Marlon and Indian
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $62,500
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2
Terence Koh
The Road to the Winterland of My Discontent, I Know Not Where I Lead
Estimate $80,000 - 120,000
Sold for $122,500
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3
Wade Guyton
Untitled
Estimate $90,000 - 120,000
Sold for $134,500
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4
Christopher Wool
Untitled (P489)
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
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5
Matthew Barney
Cremaster 3: Imperial Demolition
Estimate $50,000 - 70,000
Sold for $86,500
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6
Richard Prince
Untitled (Tire Planter)
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
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7
Kendell Geers
The Fall
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $56,250
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8
Richard Prince
Untitled (Protest Painting)
Estimate $180,000 - 220,000
Sold for $134,500
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9
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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10
Dan Flavin
Untitled (for Prudence and her new baby) a
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $242,500
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11
Mark Grotjahn
Untitled (Orange Butterfly)
Estimate $450,000 - 650,000
Sold for $458,500
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12
Donald Judd
Untitled (87-23 STUDER AG)
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
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13
Robert Indiana
Four Diamond Peace (Blue)
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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14
Anish Kapoor
Untitled (Mirror)
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $782,500
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15
Donald Judd
Untitled (77/23 - Bernstein)
Estimate $4,000,000 - 6,000,000
Sold for $3,218,500
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16
Ugo Rondinone
Vierzehnterjunineunzehnhundertneunundneunzig
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
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17
Damien Hirst
Beautiful Artemis Thor Neptune Odin Delusional Sapphic Inspirational Hypnosis Painting
Estimate $3,000,000 - 4,000,000
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18
Damien Hirst
Happy Head No. 7
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $116,500
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19
Anselm Reyle
Untitled
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
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20
Yoshitomo Nara
Winter Long
Estimate $450,000 - 650,000
Sold for $338,500
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21
Takashi Murakami
Eye Love SUPERFLAT
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $302,500
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22
Damien Hirst
4-Fluoro-3-Nitrotoluene
Estimate $1,000,000 - 1,500,000
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23
Andreas Gursky
Säulenheilige
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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24
John Currin
Standing Nude
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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25
Cindy Sherman
Untitled #212
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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26
Kiki Smith
Untitled (Roses)
Estimate $250,000 - 350,000
Sold for $254,500
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27
Richard Artschwager
Untitled (Splatter Desk, Chair, Typewriter)
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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28
David Salle
Rips in the Mirror
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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29
John Chamberlain
BAMBOOZLEDCLARITY
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $386,500
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30
Jean-Michel Basquiat
J.D. CARD
Estimate $2,200,000 - 2,800,000
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31
Roy Lichtenstein
Mobile
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
Sold for $398,500
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32
Tom Wesselmann
Study for Great American Nude # 75
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $140,500
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33
Robert Indiana
Norma Jean Loved
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
Sold for $482,500
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34
Andy Warhol
$
Estimate $350,000 - 450,000
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35
Frank Stella
Brazilian Merganser
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $116,500
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36
Andy Warhol
Details of Renaissance Paintings (Paolo Uccello, St. George and the Dragon, 1460)
Estimate $600,000 - 800,000
Sold for $542,500
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37
Andy Warhol
Portrait of R. C. Gorman
Estimate $400,000 - 600,000
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38
Jean-Michel Basquiat
Thirty-Sixth Figure
Estimate $1,500,000 - 2,000,000
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39
John Chamberlain
Untitled
Estimate $500,000 - 700,000
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40
Gary Hume
Into the Dangerous World...
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
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41
Albert Oehlen
Grazie
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $176,500
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42
Anselm Kiefer
Dein Hausritt die Finstere Welle
Estimate $1,200,000 - 1,600,000
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43
Thomas Struth
Paradise 6
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $62,500
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44
Isa Genzken
Untitled
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
Sold for $314,500
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45
Dirk Skreber
Untitled (Train)
Estimate $300,000 - 400,000
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46
Thomas Schütte
Wicht
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
Sold for $152,500
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47
George Condo
Big Game Hunter
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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48
Yoshitomo Nara
Crated Room #4
Estimate $200,000 - 300,000
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49
Francesco Vezzoli
La Devoradora (Evil Woman)
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $86,500
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50
Subodh Gupta
Magic Wands 6
Estimate $120,000 - 180,000
Sold for $140,500
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51
John McCracken
Bit
Estimate $30,000 - 50,000
Sold for $43,750
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52
Tom Friedman
Untitled
Estimate $150,000 - 200,000
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53
Gert and Uwe Tobias
Untitled
Estimate $30,000 - 40,000
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54
Piotr Uklański
Untitled (Agnes)
Estimate $70,000 - 90,000
Sold for $81,700
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55
Konrad Klapheck
Das Verhängnis (Fate)
Estimate $100,000 - 150,000
Sold for $122,500
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56
Florian Maier-Aichen
Untitled
Estimate $60,000 - 80,000
Sold for $50,000
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Contemporary Art Part I

13 Nov 2008, 7pm New York

Create your first list.

Provenance

Catalogue Essay

Artist Biography

Damien Hirst

18

Damien Hirst

Happy Head No. 7

Contemporary Art Part I

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13 Nov 2008, 7pm
New York