Idolatry, illusion, glitz and greed in Damien Hirst’s seminal sculpture and painting cycles

In 2010, Gagosian Gallery staged a seminal exhibition of Damien Hirst’s (born 1965) paintings and sculptures. Titled End of an Era, it addressed concepts of illusion and reality, myth and idolatry, and took its name from the central sculpture in the exhibition: a severed bull’s head in a gold vitrine. The work served as a sequel to Hirst’s 2008 sculpture The Golden Calf, a formaldehyde-preserved bull.

Alongside this sculpture, the exhibition showed Hirst’s Diamond Fact Paintings for the first time—a series of photorealist depictions of the world’s most illustrious jewels—as well as two Diamond Cabinets. This catalog collects these pieces and includes a catalogue raisonné of each series (Gold Tanks, Diamond Cabinets and Diamond Fact Paintings). The publication also features a conversation between Hans Ulrich Obrist and Hirst.