“The Unknown” (Explore, Explained, Exploded) is a 13-foot-long sculpture by Damien Hirst. Never displayed before, the shark is encased in three pieces of steel and glass cases filled with formaldehyde. This impressive triptych art piece is hung splendidly above the Palms’ new Unknown Bar, which he also designed.
Image courtesy of: Hypebeast
The Palms Casino Resort isn’t a newbie when it comes to purchasing and displaying fine art. The hotel’s recent $620 million renovation included a new display of an amazing art collection consisting of blue-chip works and contemporary street art, all curated by executive director Tal Cooperman. Prolific art collectors, Palms Casino Resort owners Frank and Lorenzo Fertitta, loaned the hotel some of their precious artwork by the likes of Andy Warhol and Jean-Michel Basquiat.
The 150 pieces of art, which fill every crevice of the hotel’s public spaces, are meant to help change the way people experience art… no longer is the only way to see precious artwork on the stark walls of a museum!
“Demon with Bowl” (Exhibition Enlargement), 2014 was part of the “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” Exhibition presented by Palazzo Grassi at the Pinault Collection in Venice.
Image courtesy of: ArtNews
Hirst’s “Demon With Bowl” (Exhibition Enlargement) made its first public debut in 2017 as part of Hirst’s transformative exhibition in Venice titled, “Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable”. The 60-foot-tall bronze work will stand guard in the hotel’s new pool which is opening this upcoming spring.
An interesting caveat is that the Demon which was exhibited in Venice was made out of resin and destroyed after the exhibition closed. A bronze structure of that enormous size would have been too heavy for the delicate Palazzo Grassi to withstand. However, now the monumental piece is made from bronze…. more fitting, we think!
Damien Hirst in front of “Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living”, 2013.
Image courtesy of: Irish Times, photographed by: Natalie Naccache
Damien Hirst was born in England in 1965. He studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College for three years, during which he curated the group exhibition, “Freeze” in his second year. Commonly acknowledged to have been a launching point for an accomplished generation of British artists, Hirst believes that his “start” began there.
A master of different mediums- sculpture, painting, and drawing- Hirst typically explores the relationship between art, religion, science, life and death, and everyday beauty. For the past 30 years, over 90 solo Damien Hirst exhibitions have taken place worldwide and he has been included in over 300 group shows.
“Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable” was an exhibition that took over ten years to create.
Image courtesy of: DesignBoom
Hirst’s 60-foot-tall bronze sculpture is headless and holds a large bowl. Encrusted in underwater coral and sub-aquatic specimens, the mammoth sculpture is a grotesque version of an imagined creature. Due to its large size, the sculpture was carefully assembled in slices from the bottom up. We imagine that fitting the statue into the narrow atrium space within Palazzo Grassi was quite a feat.
Hirst by his 60-foot-tall “Demon”.
Image courtesy of: The New York Times, photographed by: Filippo Massellani
If standing side by side, “Demon” towers over Caesar Palace’s “David” which now seems miniature in comparison (at just 18-feet). Hirst has never been one to scale down and it seems like Vegas might be just the place for him and his colossal pieces.
The famous quote of “What Happens in Vegas Stays in Vegas” might not be true for Hirst’s famous “Demon”. Anyone who sees the demon will surely talk about him for a long, long time. We think that’s exactly what Hirst was hoping for and envisioning!