PORTLAND.- Damien Hirst: Four Works from the Broad Art Foundation, opening January 13, 2007, will present works selected from the holdings of the Broad Art Foundation representing the major forms within Hirst's practice: minimalist abstraction, hyperrealism, pharmacology, and natural science specimen.

Visitors to the Portland Art Museum will have a unique opportunity to view Hirst's work, rarely shown in museums, including the dot and autopsy paintings, pharmaceutical cabinets, and the large-scale, natural science vitrines. Together, these works demonstrate Hirst's continuing involvement with post-modern tropes of representation and explore art's role in contemporary culture and our relationship to the forces of change. Hirst's work tackles the big subjects of art - love, desire, life, and death - with irony, wit, and complex references to science and culture.

A media icon and household name because of his infamous shark in a tank of formaldehyde sculpture, Hirst is often considered the legitimate heir to Marcel Duchamp. A recipient of the prestigious Tate Gallery Turner Prize in 1995, he is perhaps the most celebrated artist of his generation, stirring controversy and attention with each installation. Hirst has a fresh and often- challenging attitude and approach to the production and exhibition of contemporary art. He acts as a director to a team of people who realize his creations, which are vehicles for Hirst's ideas.

This is the fifth installation in the Miller Meigs Contemporary Art series organized by Bruce Guenther, Chief Curator and Curator of Modern and Contemporary Art, and supported by the Miller Meigs Endowment for the Contemporary Arts. This series of exhibitions celebrates new ideas, artists, and mediums. Since 2005, the series has featured the works of Sophie Calle, Roxy Paine, Richard Rezac, Pierre Huyghe, and now Damien Hirst.