"Color is stronger than language."
Marie-Laure Bernadac
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Does life exist on other planets? Maybe. Maybe not.
Does art? Without a doubt. Someone (or something!) casually strolling on Mars might come across an out-of-this-world piece by contemporary English artist Damien Hirst.
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Damien Hirst, "For the Love of God", 2007, platinum, diamonds and human teeth, 6.7 x 5 x 7.5 in., © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, ADAGP, Paris, 2016.
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Hirst is known for his controversial installations (he famously suspended sheep, sharks and other creatures in formaldehyde.) But he has also made other, more vegetarian-friendly works.
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Photograph of Damien Hirst knealing before "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living" on April 2, 2012, Tate Modern, London.
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In 1986, the artist debuted Spot, a series of paintings that reflects his interest in color. Each canvas is covered in equidistant dots of different hues. L-Isoleucinol, one of his most detailed pieces, packs over 25,000 dots into an area barely larger than a standard piece of paper.
That’s a lot of dots.
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Damien Hirst, "L-Isoleucinol", 2008-2011, household gloss on canvas, 10 x 16 in., © Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, ADAGP, Paris, 2016.
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The spot paintings caught the attention of a planetary scientist working for the European Space Agency (ESA). He suggested Hirst send one of his paintings…to Mars.
At the time, the ESA was preparing to send a lander, the Beagle 2, to the red planet. The scientist wanted to transform Hirst’s work into a special tool to calibrate equipment and determine if the spacecraft suffered any damage during its journey.
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Damien Hirst, "Beagle 2 Calibration Target", 2002, natural pigments on aluminium, .35 x 3 x 3 in., ©Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, ADAGP, Paris, 2016.
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Hirst prepared Calibration Target, a miniature spot painting made with ultra resistant pigment that would withstand space’s extreme conditions.
In 2003, the Beagle 2 departed with the artwork on board. Though it launched successfully, the ESA lost the lander’s signal and many presumed it crashed. Amazingly, the lander was discovered 12 years later, perfectly intact, a few miles from its original target.
What would Martians think of the art? According to Hirst, "If they've got eyes, they'll love it."
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Image from the European Space Agency showing that the Beagle 2 had been identified, 2015. ©European Space Agency, 2015.
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 Color is stronger than language.
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Marie-Laure Bernadac 
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Photograph of Damien Hirst before his piece, "Beagle 2 Calibration Target", 2002, ©Damien Hirst and Science Ltd. All rights reserved, ADAGP, Paris, 2016.
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Who are these biblical characters?
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