Screenprint on paper
Tate Collection
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Collection
The Last Supper
<a href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artists/damien-hirst-2308" aria-label="More by Damien Hirst" data-gtm-name="header_link_artist" data-gtm-destination="page--artist">Damien Hirst</a>
Meatballs
Presented by Charles Booth-Clibborn to mark the opening of Tate Modern and Tate Britain 1999
abstraction
contemporary society
diet
emotions, concepts and ideas
health and welfare
irony
medical
medicine
non-representational
objects
product packaging
reading, writing, printed matter
social comment
society
text
universal concepts
<p><i>The Last Supper</i> is a series of thirteen large screenprints. Like Gary Hume's series of <i>Portraits </i>1998 (Tate P78195-781204) and Rachel Whiteread's series <i>Demolished </i>(Tate P77868-77879), Hirst's portfolio is one of several print series commissioned from British artists by Charles Booth-Clibborn and published by his imprint, The Paragon Press, London. <i>The Last Supper</i> was proofed and printed at Coriander Studio, London in an edition of one hundred and fifty plus a small number of artist's proofs. Between three and seven screens, or colours, were used to make each print. They are unnumbered, do not follow a particular order and may be displayed individually or in groups. The images are derived from pharmaceutical packaging. Hirst has replaced the name of the drug with the name of a food traditional to working class British café culture, for example 'corned beef' and 'sausages', transforming the food into a brand by the addition of the insignia ®, TM or decorative typescript. Such variations on the artist's name as Hirst, HirstDamien, Damien, Damien &amp; Hirst, Hirst Products Limited, also set in a range of typescripts, have taken the place of the usual drug manufacturer's logo. On the print <i>Chicken</i> (Tate P11649) additional humour is created by a penis-shaped logo in a black circle above Hirst's name, parodying the brand logos that companies commission to reflect their corporate identities. Hirst has compared medical packaging to the formats of minimalism, saying: 'a lot of the actual boxes of medicines are all very minimal and could be taken directly from minimalism, in the way that … minimalism implies confidence.' (Quoted in Burn, p.25.) Hirst has been using medical packaging in his work since the late 1980s. Several works consisting of glass-fronted medicine cabinets filled with empty packaging were included in his first solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1991. Such titles as <i>New</i> <i>York</i> 1989 (private collection, London) and <i>E.M.I.</i> 1989 (Jay Jopling, London) suggest an association between the arenas of glamour, money and pharmaceuticals. <i>Pharmacy </i>1992 (Tate T07187) is a room-sized installation representing a pharmacy, the walls of which are lined with similar medicine cabinets filled, floor-to-ceiling, with empty pharmaceutical packaging. For Hirst medicine, like religion and art, provides a belief system which is both seductive and illusory. He has said: 'I can't understand why some people believe completely in medicine and not in art, without questioning either' (quoted in <i>Damien Hirst</i>, exhibition catalogue, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1991, [p.9]). <i>The Last Supper </i>refers to the way in which medicinal drugs are becoming a regular part of everyday life, as common as the food Hirst has chosen to represent. Like pharmaceuticals, the side effects of which are not always pleasant or harmless, these common British foods often contain an unappetising and potentially dangerous cocktail of drugs, including whatever chemicals the industrially farmed animals have been fed, and notoriously large amounts of heart disease-inducing saturated fat. Medicines, prescribed by doctors to alleviate and cure illness, are commodities manufactured and sold by large corporations. Like the Brillo boxes, Coke bottles and Campbell's Soup packaging imitated by American artist Andy Warhol (1928-87) in the 1960s, Hirst's version of <i>The Last Supper </i>refers to the everyday dependence on reliable panaceas which medical and fast food industries feed off (Warhol also submitted this subject to the manufacturing process of screenprinting). Hirst has commented, 'I like the idea of an artist as a scientist. A painter as a machine. The packages in <i>The Last Supper</i> and in the medicine cabinets are … trying to sell the product … in a very clinical way. Which starts to become very funny.' (Quoted in Burn, pp.210-11.) All of Hirst's thirteen components in his version of <i>The Last Supper</i> are potential betrayers,<i> </i>providing a humorously cynical comment on self-destructive aspects of British society. Another version of <i>The Last Supper </i>2000 (destroyed) was created for Hirst's exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, New York, in autumn 2000. It is a series of thirteen silkscreened packaging covers, like the series of prints, mounted on aluminium panels and hung as one large piece nearly ten metres long. It covers another list of potentially fatty foods, which combine such English favourites as 'Cornish pasty', 'Cauliflower cheese' and 'Toasted cheese sandwich' with such imports as 'Vindaloo', 'Duck liver', 'Foie gras' (staples of internationally influenced, post-colonial British cuisine) and such American cuisine terms as 'Eggplant', 'Vongole' and 'Zucchini' (also internationally influenced). <b>Further reading:</b>Patrick Elliott, Jeremy Lewison, <i>Contemporary British Art in Print: The Publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and his Imprint The Paragon Press 1995-2000</i>, London 2001, pp.10-11, 15-16 and 230, reproduced (colour) pp.231-43Gordon Burn, Damien Hirst, <i>On the Way to Work</i>, London 2001, pp.25 and 210-11<i>Theories, Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings: Damien Hirst</i>, exhibition catalogue, Gagosian Gallery, New York 2000, pp.105 and 130-1 Elizabeth ManchesterMay 2002</p>
paper print screenprint
1 July 2003 – 15 February 2004
2004-02-15
4 August 2003 – 26 October 2003
2003-10-26
2003-08-04
Instituto Tomie Ohtake (Sao Paulo, Brazil)
16 October 2003 – 15 February 2004
2004-02-15
2003-10-16
Paco Imperial (Rio de Janeiro, Brazil)
2003-07-01
A Bigger Splash: British Art from Tate 1960-2003
Tate partnerships & programmes
Meatballs
image: 735 × 987 mm
frame: 1647 × 1130 × 36 mm
Presented by Charles Booth-Clibborn to mark the opening of Tate Modern and Tate Britain 1999
<p><i>The Last Supper</i> is a series of thirteen large <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/s/screenprint" title="Glossary definition for 'Screenprint'"><span>screenprints</span></a>. Like Gary Hume's series of <i>Portraits </i>1998 (Tate <span>P78195</span>-781204) and Rachel Whiteread's series <i>Demolished </i>(Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/whiteread-a-clapton-park-estate-mandeville-street-london-e5-ambergate-court-norbury-court-p77868" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P77868</span></a>-77879), Hirst's <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/portfolio" title="Glossary definition for 'Portfolio'"><span>portfolio</span></a> is one of several <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/p/print" title="Glossary definition for 'Print'"><span>print</span></a> series commissioned from British artists by Charles Booth-Clibborn and published by his imprint, The Paragon Press, London. <i>The Last Supper</i> was proofed and printed at Coriander Studio, London in an <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/e/edition" title="Glossary definition for 'Edition'"><span>edition</span></a> of one hundred and fifty plus a small number of artist's proofs. Between three and seven screens, or colours, were used to make each print. They are unnumbered, do not follow a particular order and may be displayed individually or in groups. The images are derived from pharmaceutical packaging. Hirst has replaced the name of the drug with the name of a food traditional to working class British café culture, for example 'corned beef' and 'sausages', transforming the food into a brand by the addition of the insignia ®, TM or decorative typescript. Such variations on the artist's name as Hirst, HirstDamien, Damien, Damien &amp; Hirst, Hirst Products Limited, also set in a range of typescripts, have taken the place of the usual drug manufacturer's logo. On the print <i>Chicken</i> (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-chicken-p11649" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>P11649</span></a>) additional humour is created by a penis-shaped logo in a black circle above Hirst's name, parodying the brand logos that companies commission to reflect their corporate identities. Hirst has compared medical packaging to the formats of <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/m/minimalism" title="Glossary definition for 'Minimalism'"><span>minimalism</span></a>, saying: 'a lot of the actual boxes of medicines are all very minimal and could be taken directly from minimalism, in the way that  minimalism implies confidence.' (Quoted in Burn, p.25.) 

</p><p>Hirst has been using medical packaging in his work since the late 1980s. Several works consisting of glass-fronted medicine cabinets filled with empty packaging were included in his first solo exhibition at the Institute of Contemporary Arts, London in 1991. Such titles as <i>New</i> <i>York</i> 1989 (private collection, London) and <i>E.M.I.</i> 1989 (Jay Jopling, London) suggest an association between the arenas of glamour, money and pharmaceuticals. <i>Pharmacy </i>1992 (Tate <a class="acno-pop" data-gtm-destination="page--artwork" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="https://www.tate.org.uk/art/artworks/hirst-pharmacy-t07187" title="View the details of this artwork"><span>T07187</span></a>) is a room-sized <a class="glossarylinktopopup" data-gtm-destination="article-page" data-gtm-name="body_text_link" href="http://www.tate.org.uk/learn/online-resources/glossary/i/installation-art" title="Glossary definition for 'Installation'"><span>installation</span></a> representing a pharmacy, the walls of which are lined with similar medicine cabinets filled, floor-to-ceiling, with empty pharmaceutical packaging. For Hirst medicine, like religion and art, provides a belief system which is both seductive and illusory. He has said: 'I can't understand why some people believe completely in medicine and not in art, without questioning either' (quoted in <i>Damien Hirst</i>, exhibition catalogue, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London 1991, [p.9]). <i>The Last Supper </i>refers to the way in which medicinal drugs are becoming a regular part of everyday life, as common as the food Hirst has chosen to represent. Like pharmaceuticals, the side effects of which are not always pleasant or harmless, these common British foods often contain an unappetising and potentially dangerous cocktail of drugs, including whatever chemicals the industrially farmed animals have been fed, and notoriously large amounts of heart disease-inducing saturated fat. Medicines, prescribed by doctors to alleviate and cure illness, are commodities manufactured and sold by large corporations. Like the Brillo boxes, Coke bottles and Campbell's Soup packaging imitated by American artist Andy Warhol (1928-87) in the 1960s, Hirst's version of <i>The Last Supper </i>refers to the everyday dependence on reliable panaceas which medical and fast food industries feed off (Warhol also submitted this subject to the manufacturing process of screenprinting). Hirst has commented, 'I like the idea of an artist as a scientist. A painter as a machine. The packages in <i>The Last Supper</i> and in the medicine cabinets are  trying to sell the product  in a very clinical way. Which starts to become very funny.' (Quoted in Burn, pp.210-11.) All of Hirst's thirteen components in his version of <i>The Last Supper</i> are potential betrayers,<i> </i>providing a humorously cynical comment on self-destructive aspects of British society. 

</p><p>Another version of <i>The Last Supper </i>2000 (destroyed) was created for Hirst's exhibition at Gagosian Gallery, New York, in autumn 2000. It is a series of thirteen silkscreened packaging covers, like the series of prints, mounted on aluminium panels and hung as one large piece nearly ten metres long. It covers another list of potentially fatty foods, which combine such English favourites as 'Cornish pasty', 'Cauliflower cheese' and 'Toasted cheese sandwich' with such imports as 'Vindaloo', 'Duck liver', 'Foie gras' (staples of internationally influenced, post-colonial British cuisine) and such American cuisine terms as 'Eggplant', 'Vongole' and 'Zucchini' (also internationally influenced). 

</p><p><b>Further reading:<br/></b>Patrick Elliott, Jeremy Lewison, <i>Contemporary British Art in Print: The Publications of Charles Booth-Clibborn and his Imprint The Paragon Press 1995-2000</i>, London 2001, pp.10-11, 15-16 and 230, reproduced (colour) pp.231-43<br/>Gordon Burn, Damien Hirst, <i>On the Way to Work</i>, London 2001, pp.25 and 210-11<br/><i>Theories, Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings: Damien Hirst</i>, exhibition catalogue, Gagosian Gallery, New York 2000, pp.105 and 130-1

</p><p>Elizabeth Manchester<br/>May 2002<br/></p>
Summary
2005-09-15T00:00:00
summary
SHORT_TEXT
abstraction contemporary society diet emotions, concepts and ideas health and welfare irony medical medicine non-representational objects product packaging reading, writing, printed matter social comment society text universal concepts