Dimensions: object: 880 x 2286 x 840 mm
Copyright: © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. | CC-BY-NC-ND 4.0 DEED, Photo: Tate
Editor: Here we have Damien Hirst’s "Life Without You," a table covered in shells. It has a minimalist aesthetic but feels incredibly mournful. What do you see in this piece? Curator: Shells carry potent symbolic weight. They represent birth, death, and the cyclical nature of existence. Hirst, known for his exploration of mortality, uses them to evoke feelings of loss and impermanence. Do you think he’s questioning the human condition? Editor: I think so. The title reinforces this sense of absence. Curator: Precisely. The careful arrangement of the shells invites contemplation on what is left behind when life is gone. The table itself becomes a stage for these relics. Editor: I hadn't thought about the arrangement. Thank you. Curator: My pleasure. It seems every element is carefully chosen to resonate with cultural memory.
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Life Without You is an arrangement of sea-shells on a white melanine-topped table. Seventy-three exotic shells are organised in fifteen rows of five with five exceptions: a row of three, two rows of four and two rows of six. The shells vary widely in size, ranging from tiny winkle-type shells the size of a fingernail, to the large white clam and brown tonna shells closer to the size of a hand. A mixture of univalve and bivalve types, the shells are shiny as though they have been polished or varnished, heightening the deep pinks, oranges and browns that enrich their various shades of white. The intense glossiness of their surfaces suggests that they, like the shells presented in a related work Hirst made in the same year, Forms Without Life (T06657), were purchased in Thailand as tourist souvenirs. Their ornate organic forms contrast with the plain style of the mass-produced institutional table they lie on.
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