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Damien Hirst & Invader — Memento Mori Galactose Oxidase

Memento Mori Galactose Oxidase

2025

Memento Mori Galactose Oxidase stands as a striking synthesis of Damien Hirst's longstanding obsession with mortality and Invader's pixelated visual language, merging two radically different artistic philosophies into a single, arresting statement. Executed in household gloss on canvas, the choice of an everyday, industrial paint medium deliberately subverts fine art conventions, a provocation Hirst has long championed by elevating the mundane into the monumental. The title fuses the classical Latin reminder of death — 'memento mori' — with the biochemical enzyme galactose oxidase, echoing Hirst's fascination with science, the body, and impermanence, while Invader's influence likely manifests in geometric, game-like configurations that fragment the canvas into a coded visual grid. This tension between the ancient and the algorithmic, the biological and the digital, gives the work a layered conceptual weight that neither artist could achieve alone. The result is a memento mori for the digital age, asking what death and memory mean when filtered through pixels, pop culture, and chemistry.

Medium
Household gloss on canvas
Dimensions

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About this work

Damien Hirst & Invader, Memento Mori Galactose Oxidase, 2025

Memento Mori Galactose Oxidase stands as a striking synthesis of Damien Hirst's longstanding obsession with mortality and Invader's pixelated visual language, merging two radically different artistic philosophies into a single, arresting statement. Executed in household gloss on canvas, the choice of an everyday, industrial paint medium deliberately subverts fine art conventions, a provocation Hirst has long championed by elevating the mundane into the monumental. The title fuses the classical Latin reminder of death — 'memento mori' — with the biochemical enzyme galactose oxidase, echoing Hirst's fascination with science, the body, and impermanence, while Invader's influence likely manifests in geometric, game-like configurations that fragment the canvas into a coded visual grid. This tension between the ancient and the algorithmic, the biological and the digital, gives the work a layered conceptual weight that neither artist could achieve alone. The result is a memento mori for the digital age, asking what death and memory mean when filtered through pixels, pop culture, and chemistry.

Medium
Household gloss on canvas
Dimensions
192.4 x 213.4 cm
Year
2025
Seen at
HENI, London, United Kingdom

Related themes

Collaborative Work, Contemplative Mood, Canvas Medium, Scientific Theme, Mixed Media, Conceptual Art, Muted Tones, Household Gloss, Abstract Figurative, Contemporary

More works by Damien Hirst

Collected by

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