With his shark preserved in formaldehyde and a cow and a calf cut into sections, Damien Hirst first hit the headlines in the early 1990s.

And now, 20 years on, his works are going to be exhibited in Croydon for the first time in a brand new gallery that opens on Friday.

The owner of the gallery, Kevin Zuchowski-Morrison, will not give too much away about what works are to be show in the Iconoclasm exhibition.

But he said the works are more commercial than Hirst’s earlier pieces, and include his butterflies and spots works.

Other artists that will be on display, and for sale, when Rise Gallery opens its doors in St George’s Walk, Croydon, include Banksy and Andrew Warhol.

Mr Zuchowski-Morrison is also using his premises to showcase work by artists people might not be aware of, like Juliette Clovis (pictured below).

Your Local Guardian:

He has worked in the art world for several years and said he hopes the business is just the start for Croydon as a destination for art.

The 34-year-old said: “I have lived in Croydon for a long time and I was fed up with the borough getting negative press.

“It just felt like there was a negative perception in Croydon but it offers so much.”

His eventual aim is to set up an art quarter in the town centre with 140 regularly changing murals in the streets near to St George’s Walk and said the gallery is the ‘first point of call’.

He added: “All my contemporaries that I work with in central London said ‘Why there?’ and I said ‘It has got an edge to it and it’s an exciting place to be’.

“I would like Croydon to be one of the best places in London and the south east for visual arts.

“And I hope that the gallery will help to change people’s feelings towards the area.”

It took Mr Zuchowski-Morrison about 18 months of work behind the scenes to get to the stage where the business is ready to open.

Above the gallery is Arthalo, a not for profit organisation set up by Mr Zuchowski-Morrison to help vulnerable adults and people with mental health problems to express themselves through art.

The Damien Hirst exhibition runs until November 30.

Go to www.rise-gallery.co.uk for more details about the gallery.