Beyond Belief signed by Damien Hirst first edition 2008

London: Other Criteria/White Cube, 2008
 
4to., white cloth lettered and decorated in black to spine; onlaid full-colour photographic covers; pale grey endpapers; pp. [vii], 8-182, [xiv, index of artworks]; full colour photographs throughout, some folding plates; upper corner crease; one very light brown spot to spine; light rubbing to edges of boards; a very nice copy. 
 
First edition, signed by the artist to p. [iii], accompanied by a drawing of a heart. Containing photographs of some of the artworks for which he is best known, including his infamous crystal skull, and animals in formaldehyde. 
 
Beyond Belief was a major solo exhibition which ran from the 3rd to the 7th  July 2007 in Mason’s Yard, London. In it, the artist confronts “the intense joy and deep-set anxiety we can all feel in hospitals, where we are surrounded by both creation and decay.” In particular, the ‘Birth Paintings’, which show his youngest son Cyrus being delivered by cesarean section, show the brutal but tender beauty of birth in all its transparency. Twelve new sculptures from his ‘Natural History’ series were also displayed for the first time.  
 
This accompanying catalogue includes text by Will Self and Hans Ulrich Obrist.