Forgiving and Forgetting

The Roman headquarters of Gagosian presents to the public an exhibition of sculptures and new paintings by Damien Hirst, one of the most celebrated and highly regarded artists in the world. The presentation coincides with Archaeology Now, on view at Galleria Borghese.

Forgiving and Forgetting includes works from Hirst’s Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, a project that presented sculptural relics from a fictional shipwreck ranging from pastiches of ancient and classical busts, masks, and statues to representations of iconic Disney cartoon characters. Carved out of pink Portuguese marble and white Carrara marble, each sculpture of the exhibition exemplify the idea of mythmaking that lies at the core of culture and assumes the same gravitas; the playful wave of a coral-laden Minnie Mouse is echoed elsewhere in the gallery by the outstretched hand of the female centaur Hylonome, whose statuesque form conjures both Baroque corporeality and the stately symmetry of French Neoclassical sculpture.

Hirst will also reveal his latest series, the Reverence Paintings: dabs of color and flecks of gold leaf across the otherwise monochrome canvases that underscore Hirst’s acute sense of color, expanding upon the expressionistic and pointillist impulses that have inspired his recent bodies of work