The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

Damien Hirst
The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, 2013
Lenticular print
80 x 120 cm (31.4 x 47.2 in)
Edition of 150

Part of Hirst's wildly successful piece where he preserved a tiger shark in formaldehyde, this print shows the artist capturing, arresting fear in a vitrine. But this work is more than just a memento of his great work, it is a superb piece in its own right by virtue of it being a lenticular print. Given the illusion of depth, the image changes at different viewing angles so that as the viewer moves, the fish moves too. The work thus possesses a dynamic and rather unnerving dimension, re-enforcing the work's probing existentialist concerns.