‘Beautiful Paper Skull Spin Al’ (2013). Signed in paint on recto (rare for the artist). Acrylic on Paper. DESCRIPTION - Hirst first began working on his spin paintings in the early 1990s, and staged a performance at a street fair in London in 1993 where he invited members of the public to create their own. He installed a 'spin machine' in his studio the next year, and the iconic series of painting created by pouring high-gloss emulsion on a spinning canvas was born. By removing the artist's hand from the process and relying on chance, the spin paintings demystify the process of artistic production and form an iconoclastic commentary on the rigidity and academicism that informed most of art-history. Listed with Science Ltd. Work ref. number on the back. Heave bespoke heavy wooden frame, white painted. Plexi secured. IMPORTANT NOTICE: - Artist’s Resale Right Regulations 2006 apply to this lot, the buyer agrees to pay us an amount equal to the resale royalty provided for in those Regulations, and we undertake to the buyer to pay such amount to the artist's collection agent. Dimensions Size: 100 x 100 cm(39.37 x 39.37 in)Darbyshire framed size: c. 130 x 130 cm.(51.2 x 51.2 in) Artist or Maker Damien Hirst Date 2013 Condition Report CONDITION Excellent (Please refer to department for Condition report) Provenance PROVENANCE - Damien Hirst studio - Galerie Rice Gauche, Paris France - Private Collection Notes BIOGRAPHY - There is no other contemporary artist as maverick to the art market as Damien Hirst. Foremost among the Young British Artists (YBAs), a group of provocative artists who graduated from Goldsmiths, University of London in the late 1980s, Hirst ascended to stardom by making objects that shocked and appalled, and that possessed conceptual depth in both profound and prankish ways. Hirst has submerged sharks, sheep and other dead animals in custom vitrines of formaldehyde. He caused a scandal with ‘For the Love of God’ (2008), a platinum copy of an 18th century human skull covered with 8,601 diamonds. This contemporary vanity, sold for $100 million, has become the "most expensive work ever sold by a living artist". As a good troublemaker in the art market, Hirst was able to push the lesson of merchandise and Warhol's success to its climax, of which he is now one of the greatest heirs. In tandem with Cheyenne Westphal, now Chairman of Phillips, Hirst controversially staged an entire exhibition directly for auction with 2008's "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever," which collectively totaled £111 million ($198 million).