Damien Hirst - “Verity”

Verity
2003 - 2012
20250 x 3800 x 7600 mm | 797.3 x 149.6 x 299.3 in
Bronze, stainless steel, glass fibre reinforced polymer

Verity stands at 20.25 metres (66.43 feet) tall, and weighs 25 tonnes. She is on long-term loan to North Devon Council as a gift from Hirst.

Verity is an allegory for truth and justice. Her stance is taken from Edgar Degas’s ‘Little Dancer of Fourteen Years’ (c. 1881). An anatomical cross- section of her head and torso reveal her skull and the developing foetus inside her womb.

Verity stands on a base of scattered legal books and holds the traditional symbols of Justice – a sword and scales. Representing truth, her scales are hidden and off-balance behind her back, whilst her sword is held confidently in her upstretched arm.

She was fabricated in bronze in over 40 individual sand castings at Pangolin Editions foundry, in Gloucestershire. Her phosphor-bronze surface is 20 millimetres thick and her internal support structure is a single piece of stainless steel. The sculpture is weather and lightning-proof and underwent extensive wind-tunnel-testing to ensure her capability of withstanding the force of high winds and sea spray. After two years of planning and production, Verity arrived in Ilfracombe in three parts in October 2012. After a week’s assembly on site, the sculpture was hoisted into final position using a 250 tonne crane.

Text from : http://www.damienhirst.com/verity

Photos : Mine / OC from a day trip to Ilfracombe , personally I don’t (or didn’t) rate Hirst but this was *very* powerful to see