Damien Hirst

Jay Jopling, London

Exhibition Catalogue, New York, L&M Arts, Damien Hirst: The Complete Medicine Cabinets, 2010, p. 182, listed

Colour: The colours in the catalogue illustration are fairly accurate, although the Fybogel packaging is orange in the original. Condition: This work is in very good condition. Very close inspection reveals extremely light handling marks to the outer edges of the cabinet. There are three minute specks of surface loss to the extreme upper left corner tip of the cabinet. There is a very light and unobtrusive rub mark towards the lower edge of the left glass panel. The lid of the Penicillin is cracked.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Strikingly effortless in appearance, Damien Hirst’s medicine cabinets integrate the artist’s profound engagement with symbols of mortality with a Duchampian, ontological interest in the nature of art. Fusing the tradition of the ready-made with a potent symbol of life and death, Shh invites contemplation of both art and life on a grand scale, whilst simultaneously appealing in its domestically-sized display.

Having realised his first medicine cabinet during his second year at Goldsmith’s in 1988, the series has become an iconic strand within Hirst’s multifarious practice. From the first cabinets that became defining features of the artist’s mature work up to their recent manifestations, they reflect his deep-rooted interest in the ephemerality of the human body. In their uncanny familiarity, the medicine cabinets are exceptionally potent symbols that scrutinise the mediation of our bodily awareness through pharmaceutical products.

Hirst’s first experiments with the cabinets played with the idea of representing the human body through drugs - separating medicines for head and feet accordingly. Even though such overt suggestions of representation were abolished, the idea of the medicine cabinet as a portrait remains intriguingly powerful. Through the sheer specificity of each drug, the cabinets are unique traces of their imaginary owners, and become almost representational in their function. Referring to the unique combinations of type, quantity and brand of medicine that correspond to the idiosyncrasies of each user, they transform the detached appearance of the cabinet into an extremely intimate, though imaginary portrait.

In its myriad of descriptions and Latinised names, the medicine cabinets also obfuscate their potential function as portraits behind a thick layer of product presentation and scientific language. Whilst this draws attention to the formal quality of the cabinets, it also places the work in the critical tradition of appropriated objects. In this amalgam of art-historical influences, appropriation of everyday objects and suggestive nature of the medicines, Shh is a magnificent example of Damien Hirst’s influential oeuvre that invites profound reflection on fundamental questions about art and life.