Name: Like A Snowball Down A Mountain
Brand: Damien Hirst
Rating: 5 (234 reviews)

Track auction value trend

The value of Damien Hirst's Like A Snowball Down A Mountain (signed) is estimated to be worth between £2,750 and £4,150. This etching artwork, created in 2002, has shown consistent value growth, with an average annual growth rate of 27%. This work has an impressive auction history, having been sold once at auction in August 2020. Over the past five years, the hammer price has ranged from £1,015 in August 2020 to £3,270 in March 2023. The edition size of this artwork is limited to 68.

Auction Date

Auction House

Location

Hammer Price

Return to Seller

Buyer Paid

August 2020

Forum Auctions London

United Kingdom

Meaning & Analysis

Like A Snowball Down A Mountain is an etching from Damien Hirst’s first volume of his In A Spin, The Action Of The World Upon Things from 2002. This etching is colourful and energetic, depicting concentric circles made up of thin, scratchy lines. The composition is dynamic in its simplistic use of line that conveys speed and movement.

All of the etchings in the In A Spin, The Action Of The World Upon Things portfolio are variations on Hirst’s famous spin paintings. For these etchings Hirst attached copper plates to a spin machine in his studio, onto which he drew the wiry lines with sharp tools. Hirst’s spin paintings were partly inspired by a long exposure photograph where he captured the movement of the stars in the sky caused by the rotation of the earth. This activity inspired the expression articulated in the title, ‘The Action Of The World On Things’.

The second half of the series’ title, ‘The Action Of The World On Things’ derives from a phrase the artist coined in 1999 when he was clarifying the origins of his spot paintings. He distinguished two aspects of his work: “an involvement with death and decay, and ideas and life: the action of the world on things exists somewhere, and the colour exists somewhere else. And it’s fantastic.” In A Spin, The Action Of The World Upon Things is said to unite these two elements of Hirst’s work.