Black Scalpel Cityscapes
Demien Hirst, the renowned British artist reveals a new collection of paintings for an exhibition at white cube gallery in São Paolo. The “Black Scalpel Cityscapes”, which the artist describes as ‘portraits of living cities’, are composed of surgical instruments such as scalpels, razor blades, hooks, iron filings and safety-pins, arranged in compositions of a bird’s eye map view of urbanized sites. The seventeen cities that are included in the exhibition are either sites that are recently engaged in conflict, or places relating to the artist’s own life, or epicenters of economic, political or religious significance.
This project tires to allude to the inevitable realities of modern lift, which includes surveillance, urbanization, globalization and elements relating to the universal human condition. Simultaneously, the project draws a metaphorical reference to the military procedure of ‘surgical bombing’ or ‘surgical strikes’-commonly used in modern warfare-which aim to limit collateral damage by targeting precise areas for destruction.
By:Delia Chang
