Damien Hirst: Pharmacy London

The complete 10-volume encyclopedia of Damien Hirst’s documentation of every pharmacy in Greater London, part of his ongoing fascination with modern medicine’s aesthetics, commercialization and social influence

In 2005 Damien Hirst (born 1965) began photographing every pharmacy in the Greater London area. Shooting both the individual pharmacists behind their counters and the exterior views of the city’s 1,856 chemists, he took over a decade to complete the project. The images are brought together in their entirety in this extraordinary ten-volume artist’s book. Hirst’s career-long obsession with the minimalist aesthetics employed by pharmaceutical companies--the cool colors and simple geometric forms--first manifested in his series of Medicine Cabinets, conceived in 1988 while still at Goldsmiths College. For his 1992 installation Pharmacy, Hirst recreated an entire chemist within the gallery space, stating: ＂[Pharmacy] is like a contemporary museum. In a hundred years it will look like an old apothecary.＂ Pharmacy London similarly embodies the artist’s realization of an ＂idea of a moment in time.＂ This is a limited edition of 750 copies, each signed and numbered by Hirst.