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Damien Hirst & Invader — Forbidden Space

Forbidden Space

2025

Forbidden Space represents one of the most materially audacious works in the Triple Trouble collection, fusing Invader's mosaic tile language with Hirst's unflinching use of unconventional and unsettling objects. The incorporation of scalpel blades alongside ceramic tiles and paint on wood creates a work that is simultaneously playful and dangerous, bridging Invader's 8-bit nostalgia with Hirst's long-standing fascination with instruments of surgery, mortality, and bodily vulnerability. The title conjures themes of trespass and exclusion — resonant for Invader, whose street installations exist in constant negotiation with public and private space, and for Hirst, whose work often probes the forbidden territories of death and the body. The ceramic tiles render the composition in the pixelated grammar of early video games, but the scalpel blades rupture that innocent visual register with a sharp, clinical threat. This collaboration pushes both artists into new conceptual territory, producing a work that is visually arresting and philosophically charged.

Medium
Ceramic tiles, paint and scalpel blades on wood
Dimensions

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About this work

Damien Hirst & Invader, Forbidden Space, 2025

Forbidden Space represents one of the most materially audacious works in the Triple Trouble collection, fusing Invader's mosaic tile language with Hirst's unflinching use of unconventional and unsettling objects. The incorporation of scalpel blades alongside ceramic tiles and paint on wood creates a work that is simultaneously playful and dangerous, bridging Invader's 8-bit nostalgia with Hirst's long-standing fascination with instruments of surgery, mortality, and bodily vulnerability. The title conjures themes of trespass and exclusion — resonant for Invader, whose street installations exist in constant negotiation with public and private space, and for Hirst, whose work often probes the forbidden territories of death and the body. The ceramic tiles render the composition in the pixelated grammar of early video games, but the scalpel blades rupture that innocent visual register with a sharp, clinical threat. This collaboration pushes both artists into new conceptual territory, producing a work that is visually arresting and philosophically charged.

Medium
Ceramic tiles, paint and scalpel blades on wood
Dimensions
155 x 199 cm
Year
2025
Seen at
HENI, London, United Kingdom

Related themes

Provocative Mood, Mixed Media, Dimensional Depth, Abstract Subject, Contemporary Era, Textural Surface, Neutral Palette, Geometric Pattern, Street Art Movement, British Contemporary

More works by Damien Hirst

Collected by

Alex Capecelatro, Sarah Greenspan, Hamilton Selway Gallery, Brittany Laques