“The piece is titled ‘Saint Bartholomew, Exquisite Pain.’ and it comes from memories I have of woodcuts and etchings I remember seeing when I was younger. As Saint Bartholomew was a martyr who was skinned alive, he was often used by artists and doctors to show the anatomy of the human body and this is also what I've done. He holds his own skin over his arm and he holds a scalpel and a pair of scissors in his hands so that his exposure and pain are seemingly self inflicted. It's beautiful yet tragic, and like Saint Sebastian his face shows no pain. I added the scissors because I thought Edward Scissorhands was in a similarly tragic yet difficult position - it has a feel of a Rape of the Innocents about it.” Hirst

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