Damien Hirst facts for kids

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Quick facts for kids Damien Hirst
Hirst in 2021
Born	Damien Steven Brennan (1965-06-07) 7 June 1965 (age 60) Bristol, England
Education	Jacob Kramer College Goldsmiths College
Known for	Diversity Installation Art Painting Sculpture
Notable work	The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living For the Love of God Verity
Movement	Young British Artists
Awards	Turner Prize

Patron(s)	Charles Saatchi

Damien Steven Hirst (born 7 June 1965) is a famous English artist and art collector. He was a key member of the Young British Artists (YBAs) group, who were very important in the UK art world during the 1990s. He is known as one of the richest living artists in the United Kingdom.

Hirst's art often explores the idea of death. He became famous for artworks where he preserved dead animals, like sharks, sheep, and cows, in clear tanks filled with a liquid called formaldehyde. One of his most famous pieces is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, which features a large tiger shark in a formaldehyde tank.

In 2008, Hirst did something unusual for a living artist. He sold a whole art show, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, directly at an auction instead of through art galleries. This auction made a lot of money, setting a new record for a single artist's sale.

Some of Hirst's works have faced challenges, with claims that they were similar to other artists' ideas. In one case, his sculpture Hymn was found to be very similar to a child's toy. This led to a legal agreement outside of court.

Early Life and Art Training

Damien Hirst was born in Bristol, England, and grew up in Leeds. He was raised by his mother, who worked for the Citizens Advice Bureau. He never met his father.

Hirst's mother encouraged his interest in drawing, which was his best subject in school. He attended Jacob Kramer College and later studied Fine Art at Goldsmiths College from 1986 to 1989. While he was a student, Hirst had a chance to work at a mortuary, which is a place where bodies are kept. This experience greatly influenced the themes and materials he used in his later artworks.

Starting His Art Career

In 1988, while still a student at Goldsmiths, Hirst organized an art show called Freeze. This exhibition took place in an old building in London. Important art figures like Charles Saatchi, Norman Rosenthal, and Nicholas Serota visited the show.

After finishing college, Hirst continued to organize art shows with friends. In 1990, they put on Modern Medicine and Gambler in a former biscuit factory. It was at one of these shows that Charles Saatchi bought Hirst's first major artwork involving animals, called A Thousand Years. This piece featured a large glass case with maggots and flies feeding on a rotting cow's head.

Key Artworks and Exhibitions

First Solo Shows and Recognition

Hirst's first solo exhibition, In and Out of Love, happened in 1991 in a London shop. Around this time, he met art dealer Jay Jopling, who began to represent him.

In 1991, Charles Saatchi offered to fund any artwork Hirst wanted to create. This led to The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a shark preserved in formaldehyde. This artwork was shown in the first Young British Artists exhibition in 1992 and sold for £50,000. The shark itself had cost £6,000 to catch in Australia. This exhibition helped Hirst get nominated for the Turner Prize, a major art award.

In 1993, Hirst showed his work internationally at the Venice Biennale. His piece, Mother and Child Divided, featured a cow and a calf cut into sections and displayed in separate glass cases.

Winning the Turner Prize

In 1994, Hirst curated a show called Some Went Mad, Some Ran Away. Here, he exhibited Away from the Flock, which was a sheep in a tank of formaldehyde. This artwork gained attention when an artist poured black ink into the tank, renaming it Black Sheep. The sculpture was later cleaned and restored.

In 1995, Damien Hirst won the prestigious Turner Prize. He also directed a music video for the band Blur for their song "Country House".

Later Works and Controversies

In 1997, Hirst's autobiography and art book, I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now, was published. He also formed a band called Fat Les with Alex James from Blur and actor Keith Allen. They had a hit song called Vindaloo.

In 2000, Hirst's sculpture Hymn was shown at the Saatchi Gallery. This sculpture was a giant version of a child's toy anatomy model. Hirst later settled a copyright dispute over this work.

In 2003, Hirst had an exhibition called Romance in the Age of Uncertainty. This show included a sculpture called Charity, which was a large version of a charity collection box figure. It was sold for £1.5 million.

In 2004, a fire at a storage warehouse destroyed many artworks from the Saatchi collection, including 17 of Hirst's pieces. However, his Charity sculpture survived because it was outside.

Record-Breaking Sales

For the Love of God by Damien Hirst (2007)

In 2007, Hirst set a world record for the most expensive artwork by a living artist. His piece Lullaby Spring, a steel cabinet filled with 6,136 pills, sold for $19.2 million.

In June 2007, Hirst's exhibition Beyond Belief opened. The main artwork was For the Love of God, a human skull covered with 8,601 diamonds. This piece was priced at £50 million and was later sold to a group that included Hirst himself.

In 2008, Hirst's auction Beautiful Inside My Head Forever raised £111 million ($198 million) for 218 items. This was a huge success, especially as it happened during a time when financial markets were struggling.

Recent Projects

In 2011, Damien Hirst designed the cover for the Red Hot Chili Peppers album I'm with You.

Hirst in the 2010 documentary: The Future of Art

Hirst's design of the British Union Flag was a central part of the 2012 Summer Olympics closing ceremony in London. In 2013, he designed the Brit Awards statue.

In 2017, Hirst had a major exhibition in Venice called Treasures from the Wreck of the Unbelievable. This show pretended to display ancient treasures from a sunken Greek ship, with pieces that looked like old artifacts but also included modern characters.

In 2021 and 2022, Hirst's Cherry Blossoms series was shown in Paris and Tokyo. This was his first big solo exhibition in Japan.

The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living

This famous artwork, created in 1991, features a large tiger shark floating in a tank of formaldehyde. The tank is designed to look like three separate sections, giving the illusion that the shark is cut into pieces. Over time, the formaldehyde has caused some decay to the shark's body. Hirst says that the formaldehyde represents the process of death and decay.

Some art critics have different opinions about this work. Some find its simple theme of death too plain. Others, like Luke White, argue that sharks have long been seen as amazing and awe-inspiring creatures, making the artwork powerful.

Beautiful Inside My Head Forever

This was a two-day auction of Hirst's new artworks at Sotheby's in London in September 2008. It was unusual because Hirst sold his art directly to the public, without using art galleries.

The sale was a huge success, raising £111 million ($198 million) for 218 items. This amount was much higher than expected and set a new record for an auction by a single artist. This happened even as financial markets around the world were facing difficulties.

Damien Hirst as an Art Collector

In 2006, Hirst organized an exhibition called In the darkest hour there may be light. This show displayed a small part of his own art collection, known as the 'murderme collection'. This collection includes works by many famous artists from different generations, like Francis Bacon, Jeff Koons, Tracey Emin, and Andy Warhol.

Hirst is currently working to restore Toddington Manor in England. He plans to house his entire art collection there eventually. In 2015, he opened the Newport Street Gallery in London, specifically to show his personal collection to the public.

Awards and Recognition

Hirst was nominated for the Turner Prize in 1992 for his work in the first Young British Artists exhibition. He then won the Turner Prize in 1995.

In 2012, Hirst was chosen by artist Sir Peter Blake to appear in a new version of the famous album cover for the Beatles' Sgt. Pepper's Lonely Hearts Club Band. This was to celebrate important British cultural figures.

Opinions on Hirst's Art

Positive Views

Many people praise Hirst for making art popular and bringing attention to British art. He has been called a "pioneer of the British art movement." Some, like Janet Street-Porter, admire his originality and how he has reached new audiences.

Artist Andres Serrano believes Hirst is very smart and that his work will stand the test of time. Sir Nicholas Serota, a museum director, noted that Hirst is a "showman" and that his fame brings both attention and criticism.

Tracey Emin, another famous artist, said that Hirst "developed a whole new way of making art and he's clearly in a league of his own."

Negative Views

Not everyone agrees about Hirst's art. Art critic Brian Sewell said Hirst's work was "no more interesting than a stuffed pike over a pub door."

The Stuckist art group, founded in 1999, strongly opposes Hirst's art.

A Dead Shark Isn't Art, Stuckism International Gallery 2003

In 2003, the Stuckists displayed a shark that had been shown by Eddie Saunders two years before Hirst's shark artwork. They asked if Hirst's shark was great art, why wasn't Eddie's?

Art critic Robert Hughes called Hirst's work "tacky" and "absurd" in a 2008 documentary. He described Hirst's shark in formaldehyde as "the world's most over-rated marine organism."

Hirst's 2009 painting exhibition, No Love Lost, received very negative reviews. Critics called his paintings "derivative, weak and boring" and "shockingly bad." His 2012 exhibition also received many complaints from the public, who found the art "repetitive" and "meaningless."

Newspapers have also often criticized Hirst's work. One headline read: "For 1,000 years art has been one of our great civilising forces. Today, pickled sheep and soiled beds threaten to make barbarians of us all."

Claims of Copying and Plagiarism

Hirst's work has faced several accusations of copying other artists' ideas.

Spiritus Callidus#2 by John Lekay, 1993, crystal skull

In 2000, Hirst was sued over his sculpture Hymn, which was a giant version of a child's toy anatomy model. He reached an agreement to pay money to charities and to limit future copies of the sculpture.

In 2007, artist John LeKay claimed that Hirst got ideas for several of his works from him, including the idea for For the Love of God (the diamond skull) and Mother and Child, Divided (the cut-up cow and calf). LeKay said he wanted Hirst to acknowledge his inspiration.

In 2010, Charles Thomson listed 15 cases where he believed Hirst had copied others' work. These included similarities between Hirst's cabinets with bottles and a piece by Joseph Cornell, and Hirst's use of butterfly wings in stained-glass effects, which artist Lori Precious had done years earlier. A spokesperson for Hirst denied these claims.

In 2017, Hirst was accused of copying Yoruba art from Nigeria in his work Golden Heads (Female), which was shown in Venice. Critics felt the work lacked proper context.

In 2022, artist Joe Machine also accused Hirst of copying his cherry blossom paintings.

Hirst's Business Ventures

Working Style

While Hirst was involved in making his early artworks, he has always used assistants. Today, he has a "factory" setup to produce his large volume of work. This has led to discussions about who truly creates the art. Hirst himself has said that the only difference between a spot painting made by him and one made by his assistant is "the money."

Restaurants

Hirst has been involved in several restaurant projects. His most famous restaurant was Pharmacy in London, which closed in 2004. Hirst had only leased his art to the restaurant, so he was able to take it back and sell it at auction for over £11 million.

In 2016, Damien Hirst designed the interiors of his new restaurant, Pharmacy 2, located at his Newport Street Gallery in London.

Net Worth

Damien Hirst is known as the richest living artist. His auction in 2008, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, raised $198 million, which is the largest amount ever raised by a living artist at auction. In 2009, his wealth was estimated at £235 million.

NFTs

In July 2021, Hirst announced his first NFT (Non-Fungible Token) project, called The Currency. It included 10,000 unique hand-painted dot artworks on paper, each linked to a digital NFT. The project made $25 million in two months.

Hirst asked buyers to choose between owning the physical artwork or the NFT. He said that the physical artworks for the NFTs that were not chosen would be destroyed. In October 2022, Hirst began burning some of these physical artworks, streaming the event live online. He plans to burn thousands more to make sure the chosen artworks exist only as NFTs. It is thought that the burned works are worth nearly £10 million.