Damien Hirst | Autograph letter signed, on his artistic inspiration, 1985, with an accompanying sketch

Damien Hirst

Autograph letter signed ("Damien"), to "Amanda", describing how his art has been freshly inspired by discovering a hoarder's flat ("...two rooms packed almost to the ceiling with objects of powerful personality collected over a lifetime, a small grotto, that is I believe the ultimate piece of creation and makes any consciously done painting or whatever, a joke..."), and concluding with a note of optimism about his future ("...1986 the year of fun and progression, my year..."), 5 pages, in blue biro, 4to, 7 White Hart Lane, London, [1985], creased

[with:] a pencil sketch of a ram's skull placed on a chair, on a leaf of lined notepaper, 195 x 120mm, framed and glazed (frame size 530 x 450mm), creased, minor fold tear

DAMIEN HIRST DESCRIBES A MOMENT THAT WOULD PROVE TO BE AN IMPORTANT BREAKTHROUGH IN HIS ARTISTIC DEVELOPMENT. In 1985 Hirst was living in a North London squat next door to an elderly gentleman named Frank Barnes, who lived alone. When Hirst stopped hearing noises from next door he was worried that Barnes had had an accident so broke in to the house. Most of the house was derelict - Hirst later learned that Barnes has been rehoused - but two rooms on the top floor were filled with the items that Barnes had collected over a lifetime of hoarding. This letter captures the revelatory quality of an experience that Hirst has described more calmly in later interviews.

"...I don't know how the walls can contain such a wealth of I don't know what, it's like a rock pool and it really exhausts me to go up there. We searched through a six or seven foot high pile of fabulous rubbish and found a desk with pens and papers and pipe racks laid on the top as though slowly over the years it had just been covered over with junk, it can not have been looked at for over fifty years..."

Mr Barnes's flat had a lasting impact on Hirst's artistic practice. He started working from readymade materials and producing collages that were influenced by the work of artists such as Kurt Schwitters.

PROVENANCE

Christie's, South Kensington, 10 July 2008, lot 136