British - Artist | June 7, 1965 -
Since I was a child, death is definitely something that I think about every day. But I think that everybody does. You try and avoid it, but it's such a big thing that you can't.
Damien Hirst
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I've spent a long time avoiding painting and dealing with it from a distance. But as I get older, I'm more comfortable with it.
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Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there was always some other feller who was better; so I thought, 'It can't be about being the best, it has to be about the drawing itself, what you do with it.' That's kind of stuck with me.
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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.
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I used to watch 'Top of the Pops' when I was a kid and say 'Yeah!' or 'Boo!' at every single song. So there was nothing in the middle. You brutally put it on one side or another.
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For me, art is always a kind of theater. When I started the spot paintings, I made them as an endless series. But I was never serious about it being an endless series. It was just an implied endless series. The theater means you just have to make it look good for that moment in the spotlight.
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I had a passport where I wrote 'artist' under 'occupation' and I remember thinking, 'That's it, it's proved!'
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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.
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That's the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice, you can make great paintings.
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The spot paintings and spin paintings were trying to find mechanical ways to make paintings.
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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.
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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.
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