Damien Hirst’s Mythical Creatures Appear at Chatsworth House

Damien Hirst is moving on to mythical creatures, and while they may be unpickled, they are still not quite in pristine shape.

Two new Hirst works will go on public display at Chatsworth House in Derbyshire next week. The newest, Legend, is a winged horse that has been partly surgically flayed, exposing muscle and bone. The other is a unicorn called Myth, with skin removed from its legs.

Hirst said the pieces were a continuation of his interest in the relationship between science and religion. They follow Hirst works such as Hymn, the large anatomical toy and the Virgin Mother, a dissected pregnant woman.

The works will be part of a Sotheby’s selling exhibition of monumental sculpture atChatsworth, the ancestral home of the Dukes of Devonshire.

Hirst reckons that mythical creatures are the way to go which confirms the myth that he is off his rocker.

The sculptures up for sale range from the 1930s to the present day and include work by artists including Marc Quinn, Takashi Murakami, Yayoi Kusama, Barry Flanagan and Lynn Chadwick. They are on public display from 16 September to 30 October.

Chatsworth Country Fair from September 2 to 4 – if you can afford it!

It was always a weekend to look forward to in early September – Chatsworth Country Fair and this year it is 30 years old.

On September 5 1981 the event launched and it has showcased the best of the countryside to thousands ever since. Now firmly on Derbyshire’s social calendar, the fixture has prospered through decades of massive change.

However, this year I flatly refuse to go. In times of financial hardship and austerity measures Chatsworth Country Fair organsisers are clearly taking the piss. look at these prices:- tickets cost £15 on Friday, £17 on both Saturday and Sunday with under-14s admitted free.

Unbelievable and an absolute disgrace to be charging so much. Can fair president, former Yorkshire and England cricketer Michael Vaughan, of Baslow, justify this exorbitant entrance fee?