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. Damien Hirst Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
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 Read Quote
The difference between art about death and actual death is that one’s a celebration and the other’s a dull fact. Damien Hirst Read Quote
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 Read Quote
Museums are for dead artists. I’d never show my work in the Tate. You’d never get me in that place. Damien Hirst Read Quote
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. Damien Hirst Read Quote
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. Damien Hirst Read Quote
I had a passport where I wrote ‘artist’ under ‘occupation’ and I remember thinking, ‘That’s it, it’s proved!’ Damien Hirst Read Quote
