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Damien Hirst — Without You
Damien Hirst

Without You

2008

Created in 2008 and presented within the Triple Trouble collection, Damien Hirst's 'Without You' is a visceral and poetic natural history work that encapsulates his enduring obsession with mortality, preservation, and the strange beauty of death. The work houses a real fish suspended in formaldehyde solution within a glass vitrine framed by painted MDF and beech — a combination of clinical precision and domestic craftsmanship that reflects Hirst's ability to make the macabre feel both scientific and intimate. The title 'Without You' introduces a deeply personal and emotional register rarely made explicit in Hirst's work, suggesting loss, dependence, and the fragility of existence — themes made viscerally present by the preserved animal suspended in a state between life and death. Formally, the work belongs to Hirst's celebrated Natural History series, in which animals and organisms are frozen in formaldehyde as memento mori for a secular age, questioning what it means to preserve life by ending it. Presented alongside works by Invader and Shepard Fairey, 'Without You' anchors the Triple Trouble collection in art history's deeper currents, reminding viewers that beneath the pop aesthetics and graphic boldness lies an older, quieter question about what endures.

Medium
Glass, painted MDF, beech, acrylic, fish and formaldehyde solution
Dimensions

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About this work

Damien Hirst, Without You, 2008

Created in 2008 and presented within the Triple Trouble collection, Damien Hirst's 'Without You' is a visceral and poetic natural history work that encapsulates his enduring obsession with mortality, preservation, and the strange beauty of death. The work houses a real fish suspended in formaldehyde solution within a glass vitrine framed by painted MDF and beech — a combination of clinical precision and domestic craftsmanship that reflects Hirst's ability to make the macabre feel both scientific and intimate. The title 'Without You' introduces a deeply personal and emotional register rarely made explicit in Hirst's work, suggesting loss, dependence, and the fragility of existence — themes made viscerally present by the preserved animal suspended in a state between life and death. Formally, the work belongs to Hirst's celebrated Natural History series, in which animals and organisms are frozen in formaldehyde as memento mori for a secular age, questioning what it means to preserve life by ending it. Presented alongside works by Invader and Shepard Fairey, 'Without You' anchors the Triple Trouble collection in art history's deeper currents, reminding viewers that beneath the pop aesthetics and graphic boldness lies an older, quieter question about what endures.

Medium
Glass, painted MDF, beech, acrylic, fish and formaldehyde solution
Dimensions
121.9 x 183 x 16 cm
Year
2008
Seen at
HENI, London, United Kingdom

Related themes

Natural History, Scientific Aesthetic, Mixed Media Installation, Conceptual Art, Formaldehyde preservation, Two Thousands, Biological Art, Specimen Display, British Contemporary, Death Contemplation

More works by Damien Hirst

Collected by

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