Damien Hirst - Starving Artist?

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Professor *******

Humanities 1

31 October, 2015

Damien Hirst: Definitely not a Starving Artist

Born on June 7, 1965 in Bristol, Damien Hirst was raised in Leeds. At the age of 19 he moved to London and worked in construction. He attended Goldsmiths College from 1986 to 1989 with a major in fine arts. As a teen he explored life and death through different mediums in art. In the 90’s, he would become the most prominent member of the group known as the Young British Artists and they dominated the scene (5 richest). He is an entrepreneur, art collector as well as the richest artist in the world, with an estimated net worth of $350 million and he also was the first living artist to sell a complete show at a Sotheby’s auction in 2008 raising $198 million (5 richest). His art causes controversy based on his subject matter and it has gone up and down in value over the years. He believes in creating art lines that can continue infinitely and that he is the creator but not necessarily always the artist, utilizing the help of others to continue producing new pieces in a line, such as the spot paintings. His works are down around 30% from its high value, but as of late American art dealers are stockpiling his works based on the new basement he is constructing adjacent to his London home (Kaya). Just like his work, the basement project has caused ruffled feathers by Londoners and the project was just green lighted by the planning commission.

In the late 80’s when Hirst was a teen, he frequented the Leeds medical school feeding his fascination of life and death and expressing it through art. Explaining: “Art’s about life and it can’t really be about anything else…there isn’t anything else.” (Damien Hirst bio). Deciding to go to college, he chose Goldsmiths College because all the other schools differentiated between art and sculpture and he didn’t nor did Goldsmiths. During his first year he noticed that all his peers were just as good as the...