There is an opinion that the artist can be either extremely rich or extremely poor. This can be applied to the person who will be described in this article. His name is Damien Hirst, and he is one of the richest living artists.
If you believe the Sunday Times, then according to their estimates, this artist was the richest in the world in 2010, and his fortune was estimated at 215 million pounds.
The work of Damien Hirst
In modern art, this person takes the role of the "face of death." This is partly due to the fact that he uses materials that are not used to using to create works of art. Among them, it is worth noting paintings from dead insects, parts of dead animals in formaldehyde, a skull with real teeth, etc.
His works cause shock, disgust and delight in people at the same time. For this, collectors from around the world are ready to give huge money.
Damien Hirst Biography
The artist was born in 1965 in a city called Bristol. His father was a mechanic and left the family when his son was 12 years old. Damian's mother worked in a consulting bureau and was an amateur artist.
The future "face of death" in contemporary art led an asocial lifestyle. He was arrested twice for shoplifting. But despite this, the young creator studied at the Leeds Art School, and then entered London College under the name Goldsmith College.
This establishment was somewhat innovative. The difference from the others was that the rest of the schools simply accepted students who did not have the skill to enter a real college, and the Goldsmith College gathered a lot of talented students and teachers. They had their own program, for which they did not need to be able to draw. Recently, this form of training has only gained popularity.
In his student years, he liked to visit the morgue and make sketches there. This place laid the foundation for his future themes of works.
From 1990 to 2000, Damien Hirst had problems with drugs and alcohol. During this time, he managed to make many different tricks while in a state of intoxication.
Career ladder of the artist
Hearst was interested in the audience for the first time at an exhibition called "Freeze", which took place in 1988. At this exhibition, the work of this artist drew the attention of Charles Saatchi. This man was a famous tycoon, but, in addition, he was an avid art lover and collected it. The collector acquired two works of Hurst during the year. After that, Saatchi often acquired works of art from Damien. You can count about 50 works that were bought by this person.
Already in 1991, the aforementioned artist decided to hold his own exhibition, which was called In and Out of Love. He did not stop there and held several more exhibitions, one of which was held at the Institute of Contemporary Art.
In the same year his most famous work was done, it was called "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Consciousness of the Living." It was created at the expense of Saatchi. The work, which was performed by Damien Hirst, her photo is a little lower, was a container with a large tiger shark, which is immersed in formaldehyde.
In the photo it may seem that the shark is quite short, but in fact it was 4.3 meters.
Scandals
In 1994, at the exhibition, which was curated by Demien Hirst, there was a scandal with an artist named Mark Bridger. This incident happened due to one of the works, entitled "Strayed from the herd", which is a sheep immersed in formaldehyde.
Mark came to the exhibition, where this work of art was shown, and in one movement poured a can of ink into a container and proclaimed the new name for this work - “The Black Sheep”. Damien Hirst sued him for an act of vandalism. At the trial, Mark tried to explain to the jury that he simply wanted to supplement Hurst’s work, but the court did not understand him and found him guilty. He could not pay the fine, because at that time he was in poor condition, so he was given only 2 years of probation. After some time, he created his own "Black Sheep".
Merits of Damien
In 1995, a significant date in the life of the artist happened - he was nominated for the Turner Prize. The work, entitled “Separated Mother and Child,” served as Damien Hirst. The artist combined 2 containers in this work. In one of them there was a cow in formaldehyde, and in the second a calf.
Last loud job
The latest work that made a fuss is The Diamond Skull, which Damien Hirst spent a lot of money on. Damien Hirst did not have a work whose photo already shows all its high cost.
The name of this installation is "For the Love of God." She is a human skull, which is covered with diamonds. 8601 diamonds were spent on this creation. The total size of the stones is 1100 carats. This sculpture is the most expensive of all existing in the artist. Its price is 50 million pounds. After that, he cast a new skull. This time it was the skull of a baby, which was called "For God's sake." As a material, platinum and diamonds were used.
In 2009, after Damian Hirst held his exhibition Requiem, which caused a storm of discontent from critics, he announced that he had tied to installations and will continue to do regular painting again.
Outlook on life
Based on the interview, the artist calls himself punk. He says that he is afraid of death, because real death is truly terrible. According to him, it is not death that sells well, but only the fear of death. His views on religion are skeptical.