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
I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.
There's a lot of things that people don't like, I think it'd be difficult for anyone to go in and say they didn't like the whole thing, because it's enjoyable, it's like a funfair, I hope.
But I'm not ambitious for myself, or for attention.
I don't really buy any, but I have a lot of friends who do, so I go out sober and say I'm not gonna take any drugs and then I end up drunk and do it. And then wake up the next day and say I'm never doing that again.
Whenever I go to another city to do an art exhibition, the only way to get through it is to get drunk, because it's so similar to the last one.
The difference between art about death and actual death is that one's a celebration and the other's a dull fact.
People don't like contemporary art, but all art starts life as contemporary - I can't really see a difference.
It's good to have a title that's not just one word. If you're gonna title it, you might as well try and say something.
Kids are naturally gifted at art from a very young age. The problem is when they get older and become self-conscious. The process should always be fun, though.
'Painting like a child' isn't a negative for me... it's something only great artists can really achieve. The childlike quality of some of Picasso's drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line.
That's the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice, you can make great paintings.
Whereas if you suddenly go, OK, I choose to die now, you take the matter into your own hands.
I had a passport where I wrote 'artist' under 'occupation' and I remember thinking, 'That's it, it's proved!'
I've had laser eye surgery and I don't wear glasses any more, so people just go, 'You're not Damien Hirst.' I don't get recognized on the street.