Damien Steven Hirst (born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists (or YBAs), who dominated the art scene in Britain during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly Britain’s richest living artist.
His latest ‘scene’ is a gigantic 20-metre tall bronze statue called Verity that now towers over a sleepy English seaside town.
With her pregnant womb exposed, the skeletal, sword-wielding Verity has not surprisingly ruffled feathers, with residents in the north Devon town of Ilfracombe not exactly welcoming Hirst’s 20-year loan ‘gift’.
Verity also carries the scales of justice and stands on a plinth of law books. Critics in the town call it “outrageous and grotesque” while others see her as “beautiful and unique”.
VERITY FACTS
- At 20.25m from plinth to sword-tip, Verity is slightly taller than the Angel Of The North
- She weighs more than 25 tonnes
- Verity is described a modern-day allegory for truth and justice
- The figure’s stance is taken from Edgar Degas’ Little Dancer of Fourteen Years (c. 1881) referenced by Hirst in his earlier bronze Virgin Mother (2005)
- She holds the traditional symbols denoting Justice – a sword and scales – though the scales are hidden behind her back
- Hirst’s website notes: “Without the perfect equilibrium enacted by the scales, the sword becomes a dangerous instrument of power, rather than justice”
- Verity was made in more than 40 individual castings at Pangolin Editions foundry in Gloucestershire
- The entire piece has been tested to ensure it can withstand high winds and sea spray
Denigirl 
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