Studio Half Skull, half face (with diamond dust)

Damien Hirst’s silkscreen ‘Studio Half Skull, half face’ (2009) is an eloquent engagement with one of
the artist’s best‐known themes – death. In profile against a white backdrop is a photographed image
of a skull, which faces to the viewer’s left. The skull inherently serves as a memento mori, a symbolic
reminder of death, which has for centuries been illustrated through personifications of skulls and
skeletons.

Just two years prior to the production of ‘Studio Half Skull, half face’, Hirst unveiled his monumental
‘For the Love of God’, a human skull cast in platinum and set with 8,601 diamonds. ‘For the Love of
God’ was conceived to be a celebration of life literally in the face of death, a theme that could also
be applied to ‘Studio Half Skull, Half Face’. Donned with splatters of paint in hues of blue and green,
the silkscreen also recalls the action of Hirst’s lively ‘Spin Paintings’.

‘Studio Half Skull, half face’ is imbued with further life through Hirst’s printing method. Harking back
to techniques popularised by artists like Warhol, Hirst overlaid the silkscreen with a fine layer of
diamond dust, thus imbuing the edition with a captivating exuberance.