Damien Hirst at Gagosian

Rome’s gallery scene gets 2012 off to an exciting start this week with the opening of Damien Hirst’s “The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011” this Thursday at the Gagosian. Hirst is the English artist known for, among other things, the shark-in-formaldehyde piece formally known as The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living seen for many years at the Met and in the near future returning to its original home at London’s Tate Modern; and is reportedly Great Britain’s wealthiest living artist (#wikifacts).

The show, which opens at Rome’s Gagosian Gallery on Via Francesco Crispi this Thursday, January 12th is actually just one part of a single exhibition taking place around the world in all of Gagosian Gallery’s eleven locations in New York, London, Paris, Los Angeles, Rome, Athens, Geneva, and Hong Kong.  The worldwide exhibition comprises all 300+ of Hirst’s spot-centric works – the first of which was created in 1986 and the most recent of which is a 25,781 spot array of 1mm spots – each one a distinct color.

The show runs until March 10th. The Gagosian Gallery is located near the Trevi Fountain at Via Francesco Crispi 16, and is open Tuesday-Saturday from 10:30am-7pm and by appointment.