Damien Hirst Quotes

• The idea of going on tour for the rest of my life with old works is not that exciting. As an artist I definitely think the work in future is going to be better than the work in the past, otherwise why do it?

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Tour, Works

• When I used to do abstract paintings at school, like everyone else, the tutor said these would make great curtains. I would always neglect the formal stuff that was going on by using colour, because colour kind of came naturally to me.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Paintings, Abstract

• 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

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Definitely, Everybody

• People always say that my work is sensational or shocking but there are truly shocking things you could do, and my sculptures don’t go anywhere near that.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Sculptures, Sensational

• 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.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Fixed, Possibilities

• I think I’ve always been afraid of painting, really. Right from the beginning. All my paintings are about painting without a painter. Like a kind of mechanical form of painting.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Painting, Painter

• I think art is good at looking back and looking forward. I don’t think art is good at looking head-on. At the end of the day, people are more important than paintings.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Looking, Paintings

• I always feel a bit trapped when a painting goes for millions of pounds and only one person can have it. If you can have that as well as a poster on every student’s wall, then you’re in a very enviable position. I’d like to do a Damien Hirst for £500 at some point.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Pounds, Trapped

• But it’s like the horror of being in a studio with a blank canvas. I used to always run out of ideas because there are so many possibilities and I would just think, well what am I going to do now!

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Studio, Possibilities

• Making art, good art, is always a struggle. It can make you happy when you pull it off. There’s no better feeling. It’s beauteous. But it’s always about hard work and inspiration and sweat and good ideas.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Sweat, Happy

• Great art – or good art – is when you look at it, experience it and it stays in your mind. I don’t think conceptual art and traditional art are all that different.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Experience

  Tags in Traditional, Different

• I always look at money not as a motivating factor but as an element in the composition. You can’t ignore it, but you’ve got to be very careful that it’s not motivating you.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Motivating, Composition

• You need a big ego to be an artist.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Ego, Need

• Whenever I’ve been well-known or hitting the press, I’ve always had to get my credit card out to prove I’m Damien Hirst.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Whenever, Prove

• Picasso, Michelangelo, possibly, might be verging on genius, but I don’t think a painter like Rembrandt is a genius.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Painter, Picasso

• No, I don’t believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Freedom, I Believe

• I’m 43. I’m not ready to sit down in a chair with my name on it yet.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Chair, Ready

• I think money is important for everyone, because the lack of it is so painful.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Painful, Important

• I think I like big issues, but I don’t believe in God or religion.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Issues, Believe

• As a father, I would say I am more like a mother. I do a lot of hugging.

  Damien Hirst

  Topics in Uncategorized

  Tags in Say, More

Damien Hirst (57)

Birth:	7th June, 1965
Nationality:	British
Profession:	Artist

About

Damien Steven Hirst 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 a head in 2003 and the relationship ended.

Related Authors

• Okakura Kakuzō
• Douglas Coupland
• Phil Foglio
• Barbara Hepworth
• Dick Bruna
• Bruce Lee
• Vince Passaro
• La Monte Young
• Barbara Januszkiewicz
• P.C. Hodgell

Advertisement

Today's Anniversary - 20th May

Births

• 1913 - William Reddington Hewlett
• 1951 - Michael Crapo
• 1952 - Roger Milla
• 1963 - David Wells
• 1942 - Lynn Davies

Deaths

• 1834 - Marquis de Lafayette
• 1713 - Thomas Sprat
• 1732 - Thomas Boston
• 1782 - William Emerson
• 1956 - Max Beerbohm