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Programme summary

Life and Death and Damien Hirst takes us through 10 months of the artist's life, both public and private, leading up to his first solo exhibition in four years. Preparation for the exhibition, entitled Damien Hirst: Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, Results and Findings, is long and painstaking. It is, Hirst admits, the hardest work he has ever done. As in most of his work, some of the themes which he addresses are mortality, decay and the beauty that can be found in death.

Hirst tackles these issues in unusual ways, placing everyday objects in extraordinary, and absurd, settings. The programme follows the artist as he explains the creative process he goes through while constructing his installations, and some of the problems which arise. From the technical difficulties involved in individually moulding and hand painting the 8,000 pills used in The Void, to last-minute hitches when parrot and waterfowl skeletons, used in Something Solid Beneath the Surface of Several Things Wise and Wonderful, are impounded by United States customs, we are given a unique insight into the enormous task which Hirst and his assistants have taken on.

When we finally see the finished show, moments before the doors are flung open to the public, it is easy to see what all the fuss is about. It is an exhibition of staggering scope.

The Gagosian gallery in New York has been chosen as the venue for several reasons. Jay Jopling, Hirst's art dealer in Britain, explains that New York is the centre of the modern art world, the most important place to present new ideas. Hirst has to have a significant exhibition there if he wants to establish his reputation worldwide. Hirst also points out that Jopling's gallery in London is simply not large enough to house an exhibition of this size. And Nicholas Serota, director of the Tate and a Hirst enthusiast, says that New York is important because Hirst's work needs an international dimension - he must not confine himself to London.

But the programme does not only show Hirst at work. He is also seen in more relaxed mode, at home in Devon with his partner and children, relaxing and cooking for friends. His social circle, one friend explains, is essential to him, his strongest protection against criticism. As a result, he is 'totally and ruthlessly loyal to the people closest to him'.

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