Stainless steel butterflies for a lighting project remind me of Damian Hirst’s butterfly Paintings. here’s a little information on that

Whilst the butterfly is one of Hirst’s most enduring “universal triggers”, in the ‘Kaleidoscope’ paintings he differs from his use of it in earlier works. Previously, the inclusion of live butterflies, as in the installation ‘In and Out of Love’ (1991), or whole dead ones in the butterfly monochromepaintings, was partially an exploration of “the way the real butterfly can destroy the ideal (birthday-card) kind of love; the symbol exists apart from the real thing.”[2] Recalling someone once saying to him: “Butterflies are beautiful, but it’s a shame they have disgusting hairy bodies in the middle,” Hirst chose to use only the iridescent wings in the ‘Kaleidoscope’ paintings, divorcing the butterflies from “the real thing”.[3] Titles such as ‘The Most Beautiful Thing in The World’ (2003) reflect the idealised beauty they encapsulate.

Although my work is not fully related to the above text, I fulfilled my customer’s request by creating steel globe lighting shades, adorned with over 200 handmade butterflies. The entire production process was carried out in-house by me.

As I was heat colouring the butterflies in batches, I realized that arranging them in a circular formation could inspire another artwork. Stay tuned for more images as this lighting design work continues to develop.

A reclaimed lamp made from Land Rover car parts, liberated from a skip, lovingly restored and re-imagined into this lighting sculpture. £195, just sold at the recent Gorgeous show.

In Ironbridge, the birthplace of Industrial Ironworking.

a. r.     adrian reynolds