Damien Hirst to Open First Public Gallery with Over 2,000 Artworks

English artist and entrepreneur Damien Hirst has revealed and outlined his extensive plans for his first public gallery set for launch in South London in the year 2014.

"It's my Saatchi gallery, basically," Hirst told the Observer while describing the main attractions of his personal collection gallery.

According to him, the whole exhibition area will be large and comprise six galleries, a café and a shop.

Hirst's gallery will include works by British artist Sarah Lucas, US artist Jeff Koons and graffiti artist, Banksy.

The Observer reported that designed by New Art Gallery Walsall architect Caruso St John for Hirst's company Science Ltd, the gallery will be housed inside a long terrace of listed buildings, formerly used as theatre carpentry and scenery production workshops, and will be flanked by new buildings. The ground and upper floors of the listed buildings will be linked to allow the space to be used for both small and large exhibitions and the plans include office rooms for Hirst himself and a restaurant.

Of particular attraction will be the famous platinum and diamond skull made of 8,601 diamonds weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats. Titled "For the Love of God," the artwork will be showcased through a special viewing room inside the gallery.

Apart from this, Hirst's exclusive exhibition will be showcased at the Tate Modern from 4 April to 9 Sep, 2012.

The exhibition will include iconic sculptures from his Natural History series, including "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living 1991", in which he suspended a shark in formaldehyde.

In addition to this, there will be other artworks like A Thousand Years from 1990, medicine cabinets, pill cabinets and instrument cabinets in addition to seminal paintings made throughout his career.

Damien Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 when he conceived and curated Freeze, an exhibition in a disused warehouse which showed his work and that of his friends and fellow students at Goldsmiths College.

In the nearly quarter of a century since that pivotal show, Hirst has become one of the most influential artists of his generation.