Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst
Damien Steven Hirstis an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He is the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists, who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s. He is internationally renowned, and is reportedly the United Kingdom's richest living artist, with his wealth valued at £215m in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List. During the 1990s his career was closely linked with the collector Charles Saatchi, but increasing frictions came to...
NationalityBritish
ProfessionPainter
Date of Birth7 June 1965
There's no possible way you can get what you want.
There was a point I could have just churned out the spot and spin paintings for ever and laughed all the way to the bank.
No, I don't believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt.
My Mum brought me up to believe that if you look after the pennies then the pounds look after themselves, and I could never do it.
You'd never look at a Rembrandt and say, 'That's just wood and canvas and paint - how much?!' It's all about how many people want it. It works on a pair of jeans as well - they're just material and stitching, and as soon as you walk out of the shop, they're worth nothing.
I think it's just, I really enjoy art, and I just hope that when people come and see the exhibition, I want them to be just grabbed and thrown around a bit by visual things.
I think if you've made it, why not name it?
I thought it might be nice to have a little line on the side going, just in case, of doing famous people's pets for them, in formaldehyde.
We have had some animal rights things but they all get the facts wrong so they have to go away looking a bit stupid.
And I think, you know, I like it, so I can't understand it, I think if you're gonna have this stuff going in your ears, you might as well have some stuff going in your eyes.