Damien Hirst's 'The Currency' and 'The Empresses' Debut at Milan's Visionary Art Gallery

Visionary Art Gallery, founded by Riccardo Paolo Sarati (Cremona, 1965) and led by Swiss company ARTS&FASHION AG, opened in summer 2023 in Milan's Navigli district. Sarati previously worked with auction houses Finarte and Semenzato Venezia. The gallery aims to make contemporary art accessible to a broad audience, promoting emerging and established artists. After presenting unseen works by Christo and Jeanne-Claude in early autumn, the gallery now hosts 'La Bellezza del bizzarro' (The Beauty of the Bizarre), a solo exhibition of Damien Hirst (Bristol, 1965) running until November 10, 2023. The show features two paintings from Hirst's 'The Currency' project (2016), which were linked to 10,000 NFTs in 2021, reflecting his embrace of digital tools to rethink the art market. Also on view are prints from 'The Empresses' series, dedicated to five influential historical women; three posters from 'Where The Land Meets The Sea'; three skull sculptures; the limited-edition work 'H9-1 Justice' (2021, edition of 1005) from 'The Virtues' series; and a 'Circle Spin Painting' created for Hirst's 2009 solo show 'Requiem' at the PinchukArtCentre, where visitors could make their own art using a Spin Painting Machine. The gallery will next host a solo show of Karl Lagasse (Paris, 1981), featuring aluminum banknotes from his 'One Dollar' project.