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Shepard Fairey & Damien Hirst — Dissection Under a Microscope

Dissection Under a Microscope

2025

Dissection Under a Microscope stands as one of the most viscerally compelling works in the Triple Trouble collection, merging Hirst's forensic obsession with mortality and the body with Fairey's confrontational graphic sensibility. The use of actual scalpel blades embedded alongside glass and stainless steel transforms the work into a physically dangerous object, echoing Hirst's history of using clinical and surgical materials to force viewers into an uncomfortable proximity with flesh, science, and death. Fairey's spray paint and collage on cotton rag paper grounds the piece in the street art tradition, introducing his trademark layered, propaganda-inflected aesthetic into what might otherwise read as a sterile medical tableau. Together, the materials suggest a tension between institutional authority — the cold precision of surgery and science — and the anarchic, democratizing impulse of street art. The title itself implies an act of exposure and scrutiny, inviting reflection on what it means to look closely at something, whether a body, a system, or an ideology.

Medium
Glass, stainless steel, scalpel blades, spray paint and collage on cotton rag paper
Dimensions

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About this work

Shepard Fairey & Damien Hirst, Dissection Under a Microscope, 2025

Dissection Under a Microscope stands as one of the most viscerally compelling works in the Triple Trouble collection, merging Hirst's forensic obsession with mortality and the body with Fairey's confrontational graphic sensibility. The use of actual scalpel blades embedded alongside glass and stainless steel transforms the work into a physically dangerous object, echoing Hirst's history of using clinical and surgical materials to force viewers into an uncomfortable proximity with flesh, science, and death. Fairey's spray paint and collage on cotton rag paper grounds the piece in the street art tradition, introducing his trademark layered, propaganda-inflected aesthetic into what might otherwise read as a sterile medical tableau. Together, the materials suggest a tension between institutional authority — the cold precision of surgery and science — and the anarchic, democratizing impulse of street art. The title itself implies an act of exposure and scrutiny, inviting reflection on what it means to look closely at something, whether a body, a system, or an ideology.

Medium
Glass, stainless steel, scalpel blades, spray paint and collage on cotton rag paper
Dimensions
210 x 420 x 14 cm
Year
2025
Seen at
HENI, London, United Kingdom

Related themes

Clinical Mood, Collaborative Work, Analytical Subject, Metallic Elements, Scientific Theme, Mixed Media, Spray Paint, 2020s, American Artist, Contemporary Art

More works by Shepard Fairey

Collected by

Alex Capecelatro, Hamilton Selway Gallery