Damien Hirst / pharmacy 1992. Medicine and drugs are recurring themes in Hirst’s work as means of altering perception and providing a short-lived cure, ineffectual in the face of death. For Hirst medicine, like art, provides a belief system which is both seductive and illusory. He has commented: ‘I can’t understand why some people believe completely in medicine and not in art, without questioning either’ (Damien Hirst’s Medicine Cabinets: Art, Death, Sex, Society and Drugs, quoted in Damien Hirst, p.9).
Hirst believes that art and drugs can both heal, but that the latter can also warp or damage the way we think. https://www.concrete-online.co.uk/damien-hirst-and-drugs-in-art/
Bryan Lewis Saunders
Created self-portraits whilst taking different legal and illegal substances. Saunders believes the drugs allow for creative stimulation and reduce self awareness. But he wasn’t proud of the experiment, claiming that he thought drugs made him look “ugly” and was actually hospitalised with brain damage.
DRUGS – UNDER THE INFLUENCE
“After experiencing drastic changes in my environment, I looked for other experiences that might profoundly affect my perception of self. So I came up with another experiment where everyday I took a different drug or intoxicant and drew myself under the influence. Within weeks I became lethargic and suffered mild brain damage that wasn’t irreparable. I am still conducting this experiment but over greater lapses of time and presently only take drugs that are prescribed to me by a doctor.” http://bryanlewissaunders.org/drugs/
Practice-based Research Project 