Away from the Flock

As a prominent member of the Young British Artists group, Damien Hirst has had a significant and prolific career since the late 1980s. Developing a visual language that combines scientific processes with Christian iconography, Hirst works in sculpture, installation, painting, and printmaking. He creates art that confronts essential conditions of the human experience, namely the realities of and rituals surrounding death, desire, and fear. Away from the Flock features a lifeless sheep suspended in formaldehyde within a glass-walled tank. The sheep on display represents the limits of preservation, its inability to evade death. The work forces us to address our own ultimate mortality, resulting in emotional, empathetic responses.