Mercy – H9-3 (The Virtues)

Referencing Impressionism, Pointillism and Action Painting, the Cherry Blossoms are about the spontaneous joy of spring. Damien Hirst said “Cherry Blossoms are about beauty and life and death. They’re extreme – there’s something hopeful yet hopeless about them. They’re art but taken from nature. They’re about desire and how we process love and why we need it, but also these prints are about the momentary, the insane transience of beauty – a tree in full crazy blossom against a clear blue sky. How can you argue with that? It’s been so good to make these prints, to be completely lost in colour for a while. Blossoms are optimistic and bright yet fragile, just like we are and I hope that The Virtues can remind us to always try and get the most from life.”

Inazō Nitobe explains Mercy as ‘the feeling of distress, love, magnanimity, affection for others, sympathy and pity’. It is a tender virtue with a gentleness and persuasiveness that gives it a feminine nature. Nitobe notes that the bravest men are among the tenderest and the most daring are also the most loving.