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
She wasn't much to look at, but she was great to dance with.
You can always tell a great painting, because when you get close there are all these nervous marks.
'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.
I've been asked to do a retrospective since I was about 28 and I always thought that was a bit odd. It's great to look forward as an artist because in the future the possibilities are infinite; you look back and it's all fixed so it's a scary thing.
It's a great advantage to be able to play people off against each other, isn't it? You go to Christie's and get a quote on something. And then you go to Phillips' and you tell them what Christie's has given you. I like auctions for artists.
It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-level art, twisted imagination and a chainsaw.
To me it's like, this is the kind of world I live in and these are all the people who are artists who are doing what I'm doing, but in their own way.
I've seen things that are 200 years old, in formaldehyde.
Anything you can do with your hands and feet. Great.
One thing leads to another with my work.
I have a Californian girlfriend and she's into a lot of Californian bands so I listen to that.
I like the confusion you get between science and religion … that’s where belief lies and art as well.
I love color. I feel it inside me. It gives me a buzz.