XL: Failures: Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst
XL: Failures
From Poisons + Remedies
13 ¾ x 11 inches | 2010
Published by Gagosian Gallery & Other Criteria

XL: Failures is a stark and sobering entry in Damien Hirst’s Poisons + Remedies series, presenting the sterile language of medical packaging as a framework for deeper existential reflection. With its restrained composition and matter-of-fact title, the work confronts the inevitability of breakdown—whether of the body, of systems, or of belief itself. Hirst uses the minimalist aesthetic of pharmaceutical labels not to reassure, but to unsettle, exposing the imperfections and uncertainties embedded in modern science and medicine.

Published in 2010 by Gagosian Gallery and Other Criteria, this 13 ¾ x 11 inch plate comes from the limited-edition Poisons + Remedies book, and stands as a poignant reminder of the limits of control and the realities we attempt to medicate away.

A vital addition to any collection examining the intersections of art, mortality, and the illusion of order.