Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings, Gagosian - review

The two London Gagosians are showing more than 100, ranging from a tiny semi circle to a 40ft-wide epic with 1,600 coloured discs. The principle is simple: an endless series in which Hirst decides the size and shape of the canvas and the circles' diameter, and then an assistant paints these "spots" in household gloss, from one edge of the canvas to the other, leaving a gap between each disc equal to their diameter. No two colours are identical, and the background is always white.

Alongside conventional rectangles there are triangular paintings, diamonds and circles, as well as a distinct group, the Controlled Substance Key Paintings, organised like a medical organisational chart, linking a colour to each letter in the alphabet and numbers zero to nine.

Most paintings are titled after drugs, linking them to Hirst's perennial interest in equating art and medicine - indeed, the spot paintings' official title is the Pharmaceutical Paintings.

Primarily, Hirst says, they reflect his passion for colour - he claims he "was always a colourist". He does use a dizzying wealth of hues but a true colourist, such as Matisse or Titian creates exquisite harmonies and juxtapositions, something the spot paintings' randomness negates.

Initially, they can be enthralling as colours leap from the surface or sink into it, momentarily forming darting chains. Ghosts of the spots imprint your vision, creating an optical instability belying the rigorous grid.

But the volume of paintings here creates a monotonous blizzard - 90 per cent are superfluous. And their abundance only serves to amplify a whiff of filthy lucre that underscores the whole endeavour. The Carefully Selected Spot Paintings might have been interesting; The Complete Spot Paintings is simply dull.

Tomorrow until February 18 (020 7841 9960, gagosian.com)

Damien Hirst: The Complete Spot Paintings 1986–2011
Gagosian
6-24 Britannia Street
WC1X 9JD