Damien Hirst

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Damien Steven Hirst (born 7 June 1965) is an English artist, entrepreneur, and art collector.

He is one of the Young British Artists (YBAs), who ruled the art scene in the United Kingdom in the 1990s.

According to reports, he is the UK's richest living artist, with his fortune valued at £215 million in the 2010 Sunday Times Rich List.

His career was closely linked to collector Charles Saatchi in the 1990s, but rising tensions came to a halt in 2003 and Hirst's work came to an end.

He became well-known for a series of paintings in which dead animals (including a shark, a sheep, and a cow) are preserved, although some of them have been removed—usually in formaldehyde.

The physique Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot (4.3 m) tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a clear display case, was one of the best-known of them.

He also made "spin paintings" that were created on a spinning circular surface, as well as "spot paintings," which are rows of randomly coloured circles created by his assistants. Hirst made an unprecedented move for a living artist by exhibiting Beautiful Inside My Head Forever at Sotheby's in September 2008 by auctioning and bypassing his long-standing galleries.

The auction sold for £111 million ($198 million), smashing the record for a one-artist auction as well as Hirst's own record of £10.3 million for The Golden Calf, an animal with 18-carat gold horns and hooves preserved in formaldehyde.

In one instance, where his sculpture Hymn was discovered to be closely based on a child's toy, court litigation resulted in an out-of-court settlement.

Early life and training

Damien Steven Brennan was born in Bristol and grew up in Leeds with his Irish mother, who worked with the Citizens Advice Bureau. He never met his father; his mother married his stepfather when Hirst was two years old, and the couple divorced ten years later. According to reports, his stepfather was a motor mechanic.

His mother said she lost custody of her son when he was young, as he was notably arrested on two occasions for shoplifting. Hirst sees her as someone who will not abide rebellion: she took down his bondage trousers and warmed one of his Sex Pistols vinyl records on the cooker to turn it into a fruit bowl (or a plant pot). "If she didn't like how I was dressed, she'd quickly take me away from the bus stop," he says. She did, however, encourage his love for drawing, which was his only positive educational field.

Hirst's art teacher at Allerton Grange School "pleaded" for him to enter his sixth form, where he took two A-levels in art, earning a "E" grade. When he first applied, he was refused admission to Jacob Kramer College, but he continued attending the art school after a subsequent successful application for the Foundation Diploma program.

He attended an exhibition of work by Francis Davison, which was on display at the Hayward Gallery in 1983, staged by Julian Spalding. Davison made abstract collages out of torn and cut colored paper that "blew me away," Hirst said, and that he modeled his own work for the next two years.

He spent two years on London building sites before returning to Goldsmiths College (1986–89), but he was refused a place the first time he applied. "I think this work is the best piece of conceptual sculpture," Hirst said of An Oak Tree by Goldsmiths' senior tutor Michael Craig-Martin. I can't get it out of my mind." Hirst, a student, had a stint at a funeral home, which inspired his later themes and materials. Hirst, an art student, served as an assistant at Anthony d'Offay's gallery.

Personal life

Hirst lived with his American girlfriend Maia Norman, with whom he has three children from 1995, 2000, and 2005.

Hirst has spent the bulk of his time at his remote farmhouse near Combe Martin in Devon since becoming a father. Hirst and Norman were never married, although Hirst had described Norman as his "common-law wife" and not "common-law wife."

During a ten-year absence from the 1990s, Hirst has acknowledged serious drug and alcohol abuses: "I started using cocaine and booze"... "I became a fucking wreck" in the womb. He was known for his wild behavior and bizarre behavior, including, for example, placing a cigarette in the end of his penis in front of journalists.

Ronnie Wood, a Rolling Stones guitarist and Ronnie O'Sullivan, a 7-time World Snooker Champion, is a friend of the family.

Hirst is a supporter of Survival International, the international rights group. Hirst donated Beautiful Love Survivor's Sotheby's London sale, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, in September 2008 to raise funds for the charity. Later, he contributed to We Are One: A Celebration of Tribal Peoples, which was published in October 2009 in favor of Survival. The book explores the presence of indigenous cultures in the world, as well as threats to them.

He donated artworks for Art on a Postcard, a charity that promotes Hepatitis C.

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Early career—student and warehouse shows

Hirst was the main organiser of an independent student exhibition, Freeze, in a disused London Port Authority administrative block in London's Docklands in July 1988, in his second year at Goldsmiths College. The London Docklands Development Corporation provided him with funding for this event. Thanks to the presence of his Goldsmiths lecturer Michael Craig-Martin, Charles Saatchi, Norman Rosenthal, and Nicholas Serota attended the exhibition. A collection of cardboard boxes painted with household paint was Hirst's own contribution to the show. Hirst was included in New Contemporaries exhibit and in a group show at Kettle's Yard Gallery in Cambridge after graduating. He first approached Karsten Schubert, but was turned down.

In 1990, Hirst, alongside his colleague Carl Freedman and Billee Sellman, curated two enterprising "warehouse" shows, one in Bermondsey, which they dubbed "Building One." Saatchi attended the second show in a green Rolls Royce, and astonishment stood open-mouthed with amazement in front of (and later purchased) Hirst's first major "animal" exhibit, consisting of a large glass case containing maggots and flies feeding on a dead cow's head, according to Freedman. Michael Landy's Market was also staged. "I can't wait to get into a position to make really bad art and get away with it," Hirst said at this moment. If I did those things, people would be interested in it, so they might consider it and then say 'f off.' After a while, you should get away with stuff."

Professional career

1987 – Damien Hirst and Holden Rowan, Old Court Gallery, Windsor Arts Centre, Windsor, United Kingdom Curator Derek Culley Curator Derek Culley.

1988 – Damien Hirst: Buildings and Sculpture, Old Court Gallery, Windsor, United Kingdom - Curator Derek Culley - Turner Hirst Sculpture, 1987 – Damien Hirst.

1988 – Freeze, Surrey Docks, London, UK

1989 – New Contemporaries, Institute of Contemporary Arts, London, UK

1990 – Modern Medicine, Building One, London, UK.

1990 – Gambler, Building One, London, UK

1990 – Building One, Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery, Paris, France.

In 1991, Tamara Chodzko – Dial, In and Out of Love – held his first solo exhibition in a bank closed to downtown London; early in 1989, he had been part of a group show at the Institute of Contemporary Arts and the Emmanuel Perrotin Gallery in Paris; now in 1989. With the exhibition Broken English, Hirst's first survey of the younger generation of artists, the Serpentine Gallery unveiled the first survey of the new generation of artists. Hirst first met Jay Jopling, a young art dealer who later represented him.

In 1991, Charles Saatchi had offered to sponsor whatever artwork Hirst wanted to create, and the result was on display in the first Young British Artists exhibition at the Saatchi Gallery in North London. Hirst's book The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living was titled The Impossibility of Death in a Vitrine and was sold for £50,000. The shark had been captured by a licensed fisherman in Australia and had cost £6,000. In a Thousand Years exhibit In a Thousand Years. Hirst was nominated for the Turner Prize this year, but Grenville Davey was named in honor of the occasion.

In 1993, Hirst's first major international presentation was in the Venice Biennale with the installation of Mother and Child Divided, a cow and a calf cut into sections and displayed in a series of separate vitrines. In 1994, he curated Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away, where he first displayed Away from the Flock (a sheep in a tank of formaldehyde). Mark Bridger, a 35-year-old Oxford artist, stepped into the gallery and poured black ink into the tank, renaming the work Black Sheep on May 9th. He was convicted later, at Hirst's behest, and he was sentenced to two years in probation. The sculpture was restored at a cost of £1,000. When a photograph of Away from the Flock was reproduced in Hirst's 1997 book, I want to spend the remainder of my life with everyone, from one to one, never, forever; this result resulted in Hirst being sued for breaching his copyright on Black Sheep.

Hirst received the Turner Prize in 1995. Because of fears of "vomiting among the visitors," New York public health officials barred Two Fucking Cow and Bull featuring a rotting cow and bull. In Seoul, London, and Salzburg, solo shows were performed. For the band Blur, he produced the video for the song "Country House." No Sense of Absolute Corruption, his first solo exhibition in the Gagosian Gallery in New York in New York the following year, was staged. Hanging Around, a short film starring Eddie Izzard, was shown in London. Hirst wrote and directed Hanging Around, with Hirst and starring Eddie Izzard. The Sensation exhibition at the Royal Academy in London opened in 1997. A Thousand Years and other Hirst creations were included, but the biggest controversy was surrounding other artists' works. It was also seen as the formal acceptance of the YBAs into the institution.

I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, 1997, is his autobiography and art book. With Alex James of the band Blur and actor Keith Allen, he formed Fat Les, a top-two hit with a raucous football-themed song Vindaloo, followed by Jerusalem with the London Gay Men's Chorus. The Beagle 2 probe was also painted with a simple colour scheme by Hirst. After landing on Mars, this pattern was supposed to be used to calibrate the probe's cameras. "It doesn't feel right" when he was invited by the British Council to be the UK representative at the 1999 Venice Biennale. He threatened to sue British Airways, alleging copyright violation over an advertisement campaign featuring colored spots for its low-budget airline, Go.

In 2000, Hirst's sculpture Hymn (which Saatchi had purchased for a reported £1 million) received pole position at the Saatchi Gallery's exhibition Ant Noises (an anagram of "sensation). Hirst was later sued for copyright violation over this work of art (see Appropriation below). Hirst's sculpture was sold in three more copies in the first place. Damien Hirst: Models, Methods, Approaches, Assumptions, and Findings was held in New York in September 2000. Thousands of people attended the show in a 12 weeks, and all of the work was sold.

In an interview with BBC News Online on September 10, 2002, Hirst said on the eve of the first anniversary of the 9/11 World Trade Center attacks on September 10, 2002.

Following public outrage over his remarks, he released a statement through his organisation, Science Ltd, next week.

Hirst quit smoking and alcohol after his wife Maia had screamed and "had to leave because I was so sick." He had been to Glastonbury in 1995, becoming good friends and going on annual family holidays with him. Strummer died of a heart attack just before Christmas 2002. Hirst said, "It was the first time I felt mortal." He continued to devote a lot of time to Strummerville, a nonprofit that helped young musicians.

The Saatchi Gallery opened in March 2003 in County Hall, London, with a retrospective of Hirst. His ties with Saatchi came to a close (one source of dispute was who was most responsible for raising their mutual recognition). Hirst was able to remove himself from the retrospective to the point of not including it in his resume. He was angry that a Mini car he had decorated for charity with his trademark spots was showing as serious artwork. A prospective Hirst retrospective at Tate Modern was also scupped by the exhibition. Saatchi was "childish" and "I'm not Charles Saatchi's barrel-organ monkey," he said. He only recognizes art with his wallet... he believes he has the ability to influence art values by buying power and claims he can do it.

He had an exhibition Romance in the Age of Uncertainty at Jay Jopling's White Cube gallery in London, which earned him more than £35 million. The sculpture, Charity, had been sold for £1.5 million to Kim Chang-Il, who wanted to display it in his department store's gallery in Seoul. The 2-foot (6.7 million) 6-ton sculpture was based on the Spastic Society's 1960s model, which is depicting a woman in leg irons clutching a collecting box. The collecting box in Hirst's version is broken open and empty.

In front of White Cube, a charity was on display in Hoxton Square. There were 12 vitrines in the gallery downstairs representing Jesus' disciples, each case containing mostly gruesome, often blood-stained, items relevant to the particular disciple. An empty vitrine at the end depicting Christ. There were four small glass cases, one of which contained a cow's head stuck with scissors and knives. It has been described as a "extraordinarily spiritual experience" in Catholic imagery's tradition. Hirst purchased 12 works from Saatchi (a third of Hirst's early works) through Jay Jopling, reportedly for more than £8 million. Hirst had sold these pieces to Saatchi in the early 1990s for less, although his first projects costing less than £10,000.

A fire in the Momart storage warehouse destroyed several works from the Saatchi collection, including 17 of Hirst's, but the sculpture survived because it was outside the builder's yard. "I respect Charles" in Saatchi on July, Hirst said. There isn't really a feud. We speak if we recognize him, but we were never really drinking buddies."

In late 2004, Hirst produced a cover photo for the Band Aid 20 charity single featuring the "Grim Reaper" and a portrait depicting an African child perched on his knee. This was not to the record company's liking, and it was replaced by a reindeer in the snow standing next to a child.

In December 2004, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living was sold by Saatchi to American collector Steve Cohen for $8 million, according to Hirst's New York agent, Gagosian. Cohen, a Greenwich hedge fund manager, donated the work to The Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. Sir Nicholas Serota had hoped to buy it for the Tate Gallery, but Shadow Minister for the Arts Hugo Swire responded with a question: if the government would guarantee that it remained in the country.

In March 2005, Hirst unveiled 30 paintings at the Gagosian Gallery in New York. These were completed in 312 years. They were closely based on photographs, many by assistants (who were rotated between paintings), but with a final finish by Hirst. Hirst founded Another Criteria, an art book publisher in 2005.

In February 2006, he opened The Death of God at the Hilario Galguera Gallery in Mexico, The Death of God: Towards a Better Understanding of Life Without God aboard The Ship of Fools, an exhibit that attracted significant media attention as Hirst's first exhibition in Latin America. He exhibited alongside the work of Francis Bacon (Triptychs) at the Gagosian Gallery in London, the vitrine, A Thousand Years (1990), and four triptychs: paintings, medicine cabinets, and a new formaldehyde work inspired by Bacon.

An actual life cycle appears in A Thousand Years (1990). Maggots hatch inside a white minimal box, transform into flies, and then feed on a bloody, broken cow's head on the floor of a claustrophobic glass vitrine. In the enclosed space, hatched flies buzz about. Many people die as a result of an insecticide cut; some survive to repeat the cycle. Bacon, who wrote a letter to a friend a month before his death, wrote about the pleasure of seeing the works at the Saatchi Gallery in London. "It's as if Bacon, a painter with no immediate heir to this art, was handing over the baton to a new generation," Margarita Coppack says. Hirst has openly admitted his debt to Bacon, absorbing the painter's visceral images and obsessions early on and making them concrete in sculptural form with works like A Thousand Years.

Hirst set a new world record for the most expensive work of art by a living artist, his Lullaby Spring, in June 2007, when a 3-meter-wide steel cabinet carrying 6,136 pills sold for 19.2 million dollars to Sheikh Hamad bin Khalifa Al-Thani, the Emir of Qatar, was sold for 19.2 million dollars.

Beyond Belief, an exhibition of Hirst's latest work, opened in London in June 2007. The heart-piece, a Memento Mori piece titled For the Love of God, was a human skull set in platinum and adorned with 8,601 diamonds weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats. Diamonds worth £15,000,000 were used. It was based on an 18th-century skull, but the teeth are the only remaining human part of the original. The asking price for For the Love of God was £50 million ($100 million or 75 million euros). Hirst and his gallery White Cube were able to buy it outright on August 30, 2008.

The skull was on view at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam in November 2008, next to an exhibition of paintings from Hirst's museum collection. "It lifts our image," museum curator Wim Pijbes said of the exhibit. Well, we do the Old Masters, but we are not a 'yesterday college.' For the time being, it's a little late. Damien Hirst explains this in a convincing way."

Hirst called the Design and Artists Copyright Society (DACS) in December 2008, demanding that the action be taken against works containing pictures of his skull sculpture For the Love of God, created by a 16-year-old graffiti artist Cartrain, was sold on the internet gallery 100artworks.com. "I met Christian Zimmermann [from DACS] who told me Hirst personally ordered action on the case, and on the advice of his gallery;" Cartrain gave over the artworks to DACS and forfeited the £200 he had made. "This is largely non-contentious legally," copyright lawyer Paul Tackaberry compared the two photos in June 2009. Ask yourself, what percentage of the original – not just the quantity but also the quality – appears in the latest works? If a'substantial portion' of the original's work makes it to the new exhibit, that's all you'll need for copyright violation.

The exhibition Requiem exhibition in Melbourne, Pinchuk, was held in May-September 2009 and provided the basis for financing The Maidan.e

Hirst revealed in October 2009 that he had been painting with his own hand in a style that had been influenced by Francis Bacon for many years. No Love Lost, his exhibition of these paintings at London's Wallace Collection, was on view.

Damien Hirst wrote the front page of Red Hot Chili Peppers' album I'm With You in 2011.

The British Union Flag's representation by Hirst at the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London was the arena centerpiece. Hirst became the third British artist to design the Brit Awards statue in January 2013, based on his iconic NEO-Pop art style inspired by his 2000 LSD "spot painting" style. Hirst's big scale capsules, tablets, and medications were on display at the Paul Stolper Gallery in October 2014 titled: 'Schizophrenogenesis'.

Hirst's frozen carcasses had leaked formaldehyde gas above legal thresholds at Tate Modern in April 2016, according to a report published in Analytical Methods; however, this research was found to be inaccurate.

He arranged a solo exhibition at the Pinault Foundation in Venice in 2017 during the Biennale, which took place in two places in the city: Palazzo Grassi and Punta della Dogana. Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable, purporting to display ancient treasures from a sunken Greek ship, ranging from Ancient Egyptian-like pieces to Disney character reproductions, encrusted with shells and corals.

Hirst's Cherry Blossoms exhibition from July 2021 to January 2022 was on display at the Foundation Cartier in Paris. In 2022, the exhibition was then transferred to the National Art Center in Tokyo. Hirst's first major solo exhibition in Japan was on display.

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