Damien Hirst (B.1965), Legend.

inscribed Damien Hirst, dated 2011, numbered 1/3, titled and stamped by the foundry PANGOLIN EDITIONS; painted bronze; 457.5 by 259 by 226cm.; 180 1/8 by 102 by 80in. 
  
Conceived in 2011 and cast in an edition of 3 plus one artist's proof.

NOTE: 'I just can't help thinking that [medical] science is the new religion for many people ... there [are] four important things in life: religion, love, art and science. At their best, they're all just tools to help you find a path through the darkness. None of them really work that well, but they help. Of them all, science seems to be the one right now. Like religion, it provides the glimmer of hope that maybe it will be all right in the end... I want... people to think about the combination of science and religion, basically. People tend to think of them as two very separate things, one cold and clinical, the other emotional and loving and warm. I want to leap over those boundaries and give you something that looks clinical and cold but has all the religious, metaphysical connotations too' (Quoted in Damien Hirst: New Religion, exhibition catalogue, Paul Stolper, London 2005, p.V.).

Hirst's evocation of science and religion as the guiding lights for the human condition finds eloquent expression in the majestic equine form of Legend. This monumental winged horse stands atop its plinth as an icon of Hirst's new modern mythologizing art. Pegasus was the legendary beast that Bellerophon rode to defeat the Chimera. The Chimera was another hybrid creature, representing the ferocity found in the animal kingdom, whilst Pegasus embodied the freedom and nobility of nature. This monumental sculpture is thus rendered in pure white, a towering beacon of strength and virtue. However, Hirst's Legend has come under the scrutiny of the scientist/vivisectionist. One flank has been surgically flayed, exposing its muscles and bare bones, showing the secrets of this mythological animal in a colourful symphony of reds and yellows creating a dramatic contrast to the untouched sanctity of the other perfect white side.

© Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, DACS 2011. Photography by Barnaby Hindle.