Damien Hirst

Artist

1965-06-07

Quotes by Damien Hirst

• But I'm more interested in why people are frightened by Jaws and why Jaws was such a hit than saying Spielberg's my main influence.

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• The spot paintings and spin paintings were trying to find mechanical ways to make paintings.

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• 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.

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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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• So smoking is the perfect way to commit suicide without actually dying. I smoke because it's bad, it's really simple.

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• Museums are for dead artists. I'd never show my work in the Tate. You'd never get me in that place.

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• I was taught to confront things you can't avoid. Death is one of those things. To live in a society where you're trying not to look at it is stupid because looking at death throws us back into life with more vigour and energy. The fact that flowers don't last for ever makes them beautiful.

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• 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.

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• It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw.

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• When it comes to the British monarchy, I prefer to be seduced by an image than presented with a real person. It's kind of a Warhol thing.

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• The idea is more important than the object.

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