Damien Hirst: Journal Entry

When you showed us this artist in class i was really inspired and appreciate his work. The piece "Dead Ends Die Out" really caught my eye. I really appreciated this piece because I am against smoking. I believe that you are committing suicide. People that smoke see and hear the stories about people dying from lung cancer. I really connected to a quote Damien said about the piece "Dead Ends Die Out" - "I thought hard about the ashtray being a sort of graveyard, a death ... The whole smoking thing is like a mini life cycle. For me the cigarette can stand for life, the packet with its possible cigarettes stands for birth, the lighter can signify God which gives life to the whole situation, the ashtray represents death" -  Damien Hirst

This is a quote that you shared with us in class that was said about the piece and I thought it was really interesting and it definitely gets peoples attention. "The cigarette packet is possible lives, the cigarette it's own actual life, the lighter is God because it gives fuel to the whole thing and the ashtray is a graveyard, it's like death". Damien is also fascinated by the fact that smoking is a "theoretical suicide" in the sense that it is not deliberate self-inflicted death, but people know it will kill them and they continue to partake. He stated that "the concept of a slow suicide through smoking is a really great idea, a powerful thing to do".