Name: Norcamphor
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (231 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Damien Hirst's Norcamphor (signed) is estimated to be worth between £8,000 and £12,000. This woodcut print, created in 2011, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 17%. This is a rare artwork with an auction history of two sales since its entry to the market in November 2017. The hammer price over the past 5 years has ranged from £1,762 in October 2018 to £4,375 in June 2021, providing the owner an average annual return of £6,419. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 55.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

July 2022

Phi Auctions

United States

November 2017

Rosebery's Fine Art Auctioneers

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

Taken from Damien Hirst’s vast 40 Woodcut Spots series, Norcamphor is a woodcut print from 2011. The print is a square composition with four circles positioned in each corner. Set against a plain white backdrop, the spots are depicted in flat bright colours of blue, yellow, red and green. Using contrasting colours and a methodical composition, this print is an exploration of colour and form that is distinctly Hirstian.

The 40 Woodcut Spots series is reminiscent of Hirst’s vast series of spot paintings, of which there are over 1000 in existence, dating from 1988 to 2011. The spots represent abstraction reduced to its most basic mechanisms: colour, form and composition. The grid formula for these paintings is the basis for a seemingly infinite series where Hirst can infinitely explore harmonious and contrasting colour combinations.

The titles of each print in the series are based on names of chemical compounds, further emphasising their abstract in their lack of signification of something tangible in the world. The chemical name instead evokes a nondescript powder or pill and there is an incessant endlessness to the series. The circles are printed in flat, block hues and no colour is repeated twice on the same canvas. Hirst in 2000 remarked on the impact of an installation of multiple spot paintings, “it’s an assault on your senses. They grab hold of you and give you a good shaking. As adults, we’re not used to it. It’s an amazing fact that all objects leap beyond their own dimension.”