Damien Hirst and Blur’s music video: art, provocation, and “Country House”

When we talk about Damien Hirst, we immediately think of sharks in formaldehyde, diamond-encrusted skulls, and provocative museum exhibits. Few people know, however, that the British artist has also tried his hand at directing music videos.

He is, in fact, the director of the famous video for Blur’s “Country House,” released in 1995, at the height of Britpop. An explosive combination of contemporary art and pop culture, in which Hirst brings all his stylistic signature—life, death, excess, and symbolism—into a music video that made history.

Damien Hirst and Blur’s music video: art, provocation, and “Country House”

In 1995, Blur were at the height of their success. “Country House” was one of the standout tracks on the album The Great Escape and immediately entered the UK charts.

Damon Albarn and his bandmates wanted something original for the video—and it was Damien Hirst, already a star of the Young British Artists movement, who came up with something more than original.

Hirst didn’t limit himself to music video aesthetics: he created a grotesque and theatrical visual universe, where every element seemed like a work of art in its own right.

Themes from Hirst’s art in a music video

Those familiar with Hirst’s work will immediately recognize his recurring themes, perfectly suited to the song’s ironic narrative:

• Death is represented in a surreal and comical way: skeletons, caricatured characters, obsessive dances.
• Human fragility is expressed through exaggerated bodies, absurd scenes, and a constant sense of imbalance.
• Desire and excess dominate the scene, in a visual orgy of pop symbols, kitsch references, and distorted sensuality.

With his usual black humor, Hirst takes a text that tells of an escape to a country villa to escape the stress of city life and transforms it into a surreal representation of the bourgeois dream that turns into a nightmare.

A preview of his artistic language

This video clip is not just a curious interlude in Damien Hirst’s career.

It is a visual manifesto that anticipates, in pop and condensed form, many of the elements that are later found in his most famous works.

Want to learn more?

Read the article dedicated to Damien Hirst and his major works: sharks, butterflies, skulls, and the disturbing and fascinating world of the British artist.

If you want to find out more about his life and career, there is also a complete guide to who Damien Hirst is.

Hirst and pop culture

The episode of the Blur music video reminds us that Damien Hirst is not an artist locked away in the ivory tower of the art world, but a protagonist of visual culture in every sense.

He has been able to engage with music, marketing, science, and even entertainment, while maintaining his sharp, critical, and somewhat macabre view of the world.

An artist who, even when directing a pop video, leaves you with a strange feeling, as if he had just shown you something you would rather not have seen.