Exhibition of new works by Damien Hirst opens at Britain's Houghton

LONDON, March 25 (Xinhua) -- A series of new paintings by Damien Hirst, which have never been shown in public before, went on display Sunday at an exhibition held in the State Rooms at Houghton Hall.

The 46 new paintings, from a series entitled Colour Space, are a development of the iconic Spot Paintings, which are among the artist's most recognized works.

The Colour Space series sees a return to his first Spot Painting made in 1986. The new paintings are much looser in form than the minimal grid style with which he is now synonymous.

The exhibition also includes 15 sculptures, among which are some of the artist's most iconic large-scale bronze works, displayed on Houghton's grounds. A number of sculptures are also shown inside the house, including two kinetic ball works from Hirst's Mental Escapology series (both 2000). Dog with Bone (2017) is from a new series of scaled-up pipe cleaner animals and is displayed alongside two rotating Spin Paintings.

To coincide with the exhibition, Hirst's 20ft bronze sculpture, Hymn (1999-2005), will be shown at Norwich University of the Arts (NUA) from March 26 to July 29. The sculpture will be in place through the Norfolk and Norwich Festival in May.

The exhibition is curated by Mario Codognato, who had worked on several of the artist's previous projects including his first retrospective in Naples, The Agony and the Ecstasy: Selected Works from 1989-2004, Museo Archeologico Nazionale de Napoli 2004-5 and Candy: Damien Hirst & Felix Gonzales-Torres, Blain|Southern, London, 2013.

Lord Cholmondeley, owner of Houghton, said: "We are delighted to have this opportunity to show Damien Hirst's new paintings in the State Rooms at Houghton, together with some of his best-known sculptures in the grounds. It is the first time that Hirst has shown a significant body of work in a classical country house setting."

Houghton Hall was built by Britain's first Prime Minister, Sir Robert Walpole, in around 1722. Designed by architects Colen Campell and James Gibbs and executed by Thomas Ripley, Surveyor of the King's Works, it is one of the country's finest examples of Palladian architecture. Later, Sir Robert engaged William Kent to decorate the grand rooms on the state floor.

Recently, many of the rooms have been restored to how they would have looked in Sir Robert's day, and formal planting on the garden front has been reinstated. Enditem