Tracing its roots back to 1992, ‘Spin Paintings’ was Hirst’s reaction to Abstract Expressionism and his desire to devise a machine to make art, based on his idea that one could mechanically create ‘a clinical system’ to produce ‘art without angst’. Rather than creating a composition directly through his brush, Hirst began pouring pigments onto his canvases as they spun, allowing the machine to facilitate chance movements and colour interactions.

Damien Hirst is a British contemporary master artist and entrepreneur recognized for his iconic artworks that have defined the contemporary art world for over a decade. His varied practice, which includes installation, sculpture, painting, and drawing, explores the complex relationships between life, death, art, religion, and science. Hirst was born in Bristol in 1965 and grew up in Leeds, England. In 1984, he moved to London, where he worked in construction before enrolling at Goldsmiths University of London, in 1986 to study fine art. While at Goldsmiths, Hirst organized the independent student exhibition 'Freeze', which has become legendary as the originating moment of the Young British Artists (YBAs). 'Freeze', which exhibited Hirst’s first spot paintings, launched Hirst and 15 of his fellow students to fame, making their place in art history. In 1991, Charles Saatchi, offering to fund Hirst’s artwork, mounted the first Young British Artists (YBA) exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in London. Among the works exhibited was 'The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living' (1991), a shark submerged in a formaldehyde vitrine, which became an overnight global sensation. As a result of the show, Hirst was nominated for that year's Turner Prize. Hirst later won the Turner Prize in 1995 for the work, 'Mother and Child Divided'. Known best for his use of symbols, the 'Universal Triggers' utilized throughout his career have instant relatability in connection with universal questions about life, death, love and everything in between. In an interview with Tate, he said “I like work that says one thing and then denies it at the same time. I don’t think there are answers I think there are only questions. I think it’s for viewers to decide what the answers are.” Hirst is well recognized for his spot paintings, medicine cabinet motifs, brightly colored spin paintings, kaleidoscopic butterflies, large-scale sculptural installations and diamond-encrusted skulls. Since 1987, there have been over 80 solo Damien Hirst exhibitions that have taken place worldwide from Tokyo to New York City and his work has been included in over 260 group shows. Damien Hirst works in a limitless way, crossing several different mediums and themes in his work and mastering all emotions. Damien Hirst's impact on the art world has had a similar effect to that of the contemporary masters before him, with similarities to be drawn from the monumental pop art work of Andy Warhol, the street-art sensation installation master Keith Haring, the expressive and vibrant paintings of Jean-Michel Basquiat, the psychological themes and clever symbolism explored in the work of Francis Bacon and innovative approach of Marcel Duchamp. Damien Hirst continues to work and create art in the present day, with his recent focus primarily on paintings.