"Lysergic Acid Diethylamide (LSD)", 2000
Signerad Damien Hirst. Numrerad 202/300 a tergo. Lambda print 106 x 126 cm.
Pharmacy restaurant, London.
Privatsamling, Sverige.
The restaurant Pharmacy was opened in collaboration with Matthew Freud, Liam Carson and Jonathan Kennedy, one of the founders of Quo Vadis.
The interior was designed in its entirety by the artist and included a number of major Hirst artworks such as ‘Molecular Structure’ (1997–1998). Its convincing pharmaceutical appearance led to threats of legal action by the Royal Pharmaceutical Society for misleading the public. Hirst recalls, “A woman once asked me for an aspirin and I had to say, ‘I’m sorry, we have a strictly no drugs policy here!’”[1] After the initial use of anagrams such as ‘Army Chap’, the premises was eventually renamed Pharmacy Restaurant & Bar.
The restaurant opened whilst Hirst’s installation ‘Pharmacy’ (1992) was on display at Tate Britain. Of the difference between the two, Hirst states that “Art’s dead. Life is alive. Pharmacy’s alive. It’s like: Eat your dinner, complain about the food, wash the plates … It lives. Whereas ‘Pharmacy’s dead.”[2]
Pharmacy was awarded the prize for best-designed restaurant from the Carlton London Restaurant Award in 1998.
On the closure of the restaurant in 2003, Sotheby’s conducted a largescale sale of its contents, including artworks, fixtures, furniture and tableware.
Hirst, Damien f. 1965, brittisk konstnär. Utbildad i konst på Goldsmiths, University of London 1986-1989. Hirst har blivit en av de mest uppmärksammade konstnärerna i sin generation. Många av hans konstverk är kända över hela världen som klassiker: tigerhajen i formaldehyd, apoteket, de styckade kalvarna, flugorna och det ruttnande kohuvudet och så förstås den diamantprydda dödskallen, verket som mer än något annat cementerade honom som en konstnär som inte bara gör konst om konst, utan konst om den globala konstmarknaden. Hans konst provocerar men Damien Hirst investerar, utöver sin konstverksamhet, betydande belopp i ett solkraftverk, som väntas stå för nära 2% av den totala kapaciteten av solgenererad el i Storbritannien.
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