Damien Hirst and The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

Damien Hirst. That is a name you cannot mention in artistic circles without raising some eyebrows. His art never fails to be mired in controversy and conspiracy. Many of his installation artworks do not merely hint at death, they actively involve it.

Some of the most famous works of Damien Hirst are his glass tank installations which contain dead animals (some of which have been dissected) suspended in a preservative mixture. The glass tank allows for a complete 360 degree view of the contents. The installation piece that started it all for Damien Hirst was The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living was a 1991 installation involving a dead tiger shark and plenty of formaldehyde. It was commissioned by Charles Saatchi, a renowned art collector and a supporter of the Young British Artists (YBA). Saatchi gave Damien Hirst an open opportunity by offering to pay for whatever the artist wanted to create. Hirst choose to immortalize a shark.

While The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living is rumored to cost £50,000 to create, the actual re-sale value of the piece has been a source of debate. The figure runs between eight and 12 million dollars.

Unfortunately, the preservation process of the shark was not ideal and the carcass began to deteriorate, which lead to the shark’s skin being removed and stretched over a mold. However, Damien Hirst was not satisfied with the look of the fixed up installation and replaced the shark when his piece went up for sale a second time.

Not everyone would be thrilled to have The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living as a curio in their home. In the first place, the space you would need to display the tank would have to be large; not many are willing to donate their entire living or dining room to a single work of art! Secondly, it is…well…a dead shark. There is no getting around that. So what makes this installation work of Damien Hirst so valuable?

Hirst manages to take two things that people fear, death and sharks, and forces us to deal with them head on. Even the title of the work “The Physical Impossibility of Death” suggests that the concept of death and what it means is almost beyond human comprehension. Yet, Hirst has taken death, suspended it, and placed it in a glass container for all to see. In this way we confront our deepest darkest fears. We stare at it. We get close to it – and it cannot harm us. There is a small victory and comfort in knowing that sometimes we can triumph over what terrifies us and that, in part, may be the value of an artwork such as this.

Damien Hirst went on to create many other installation art works, some much more disturbing than The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living.   For instance, Mother and Child Divided featured a dissected cow and calf. It is this first glass tank artwork of a dead shark, however, that earn Hirst a place as one of history’s most memorable installation artists.

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Author (Nick). Submitted on Mon, 19 Dec 2011 Time: 7:21 AM

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