Damien Hirst discovered spin art when he was 9 years old. He loved the way the machines splashed paint across a flat, spinning surface.
As a grown-up, he made brightly colored spin paintings with long titles. The titles all begin with the word “beautiful.” They all end in the word “painting.”
Hirst’s spin art paintings are abstract. They do not try to show things we recognize, like people, objects or landscapes. Instead they use shapes, colors, forms and marks to make something no one has ever seen before.
Damien Hirst (British, b. 1965), “Beautiful primary, childish, pale blue, sneezing pepper painting,” 1998. Gloss household paint on canvas. Georgia Museum of Art, University of Georgia; The John and Sara Shlesinger Collection. GMOA 2019.416.
Try making your own abstract paintings by mixing different colors of paint with your fingers.
For this activity you will need:
- fingerpaint
- paper or cardboard
- plate
- wipes
How to mix colors with your fingers:
- Create a palette by squeezing out several puddles of paint onto your plate.
- Encourage your toddler to get paint on their fingers and then make marks on their paper.
- As the paint on the paper builds up and mixes together, new colors will appear.