Damien Hirst - Mandalas

Returning to one of his most well-known motifs - the butterfly - Hirst's new paintings take their inspiration from the mandala: highly patterned religious images that represent the cosmos or universe in Hindu, Buddhist, Jain or Shinto traditions. Predominantly circular, they feature exquisitely colourful butterfly wings placed into intricate concentric patterns on household gloss paint. Complex and restless, their compositions resolve at the centre with a single butterfly, a point of visual and mental focus; a spiritual or energy nexus.