Damien Hirst Quotes & Sayings

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

I had a passport where I wrote 'artist' under 'occupation' and I remember thinking, 'That's it, it's proved!' — Damien Hirst

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

People don't like contemporary art, but all art starts life as contemporary - I can't really see a difference. — Damien Hirst

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

To be an artist is not about fame; it's about art, which is this intangible thing that has got to have lots of integrity, whereas being famous doesn't really take any integrity. But I think you have to admit that you want to be famous, otherwise you can't be an artist. Art and fame together are like a desire to live forever. — Damien Hirst

No, I don't believe in genius. I believe in freedom. I think anyone can do it. Anyone can be like Rembrandt. — Damien Hirst

But I think it's more that when you're young, you're invincible, you're immortal - or at least you think you are. The possibilities are limitless, you're inventing the future. Then you get older and suddenly you have a history. It's fixed. You can't change anything. I find that a bit disturbing, to be honest. — Damien Hirst

It'd be nice to make lots of money but it's quite difficult, because every time I make lots of money I make a bigger piece that costs lots of money. — Damien Hirst

'Painting like a child' isn't a negative for me ... it's something only great artists can really achieve. The childlike quality of some of Picasso's drawings is precisely what makes them so masterful and extraordinary; the ability to express complete visions, feelings and portraits through a continuous line. — Damien Hirst

I quite like it to be risky. I'm not ready to sit down in a chair with my name on it yet. I've arrived at that point in the art world where there really is a chair that you sit in. — Damien Hirst

Never let money get in the way of an idea — Damien Hirst

But I could never make a judgement that something was obscene. — Damien Hirst

I always try to make everyone mellow down, make sure everybody's happy. The people I have employed have always kind of stayed with us. A lot of people who come to work for you are artists in their own right. And they want to work for you because they want to pick something up. — Damien Hirst

You can always tell a great painting, because when you get close there are all these nervous marks. — Damien Hirst

Death's just something that inspires me, not something that pulls me down. I used to get called morbid at school. I have always loved horror films; I like being frightened. — Damien Hirst

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

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

I have titles floating around in my head; I have sculptures floating around in my head. It's like a collage. — Damien Hirst

You have to step over the boundaries sometimes just to find out where theyare. — Damien Hirst

The idea of being a painter, I've always thought, is better than being an artist or a sculptor. — Damien Hirst

I wanted a shark that's big enough to eat you, and in a large enough amount of liquid so that you could imagine you were in there with it. — Damien Hirst

Art is the closest you can get to immortality, though it's a poor substitute - you're working for people not yet born - and people want it because it is brilliant. It ends up in museums anyway; the rich have to give it back to the people, it's their only option. There are no pockets in a shroud. — Damien Hirst

Painting is so poetic, while sculpture is more logical and scientific and makes you worry about gravity. — Damien Hirst

But I always liked the fact that you get these totally unacceptable images, but they're taken by a really expensive photographer, with great light, and in terms of the quality of the photograph it's a great photograph, but in terms of imagery it's unacceptable, and I like that contradiction. — Damien Hirst

Kids are naturally gifted at art from a very young age. The problem is when they get older and become self-conscious. The process should always be fun, though. — Damien Hirst

I just wanted to find out where the boundaries were. So far I've found there aren't any. I just wanted to be stopped, and no one will stop me. — Damien Hirst

I have always been aware that you have to get people listening before you can change their minds. Any artist's big fear is being ignored, so if you get debate, that's great. — Damien Hirst

You've really got to get down on the floor with yourself and get low in order to make great art. I think you've just got to accept who you are and do the most unbelievable things. — Damien Hirst

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. — Damien Hirst

The idea is more important than the object. — Damien Hirst

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

Sensation is an element of what I do, and why not? It's not sensational for the sake of being sensational, but it's sensational art ... It's like touching skin. — Damien Hirst

I've never learned to drive because I get lots of ideas when I'm a passenger in a car. I love to get in a car with a driver and just think and work things out. — Damien Hirst

I used to believe I was going to live forever. And then you suddenly become aware that you're not. — Damien Hirst

As soon as something becomes art I think you get over the fear — Damien Hirst

You've got to be oblivious to other people, the push and pull of other people's opinions, the way other people measure success. It's then that you realize you are 100 percent who you are and you have to use that who-you-are 100 percent in order to create great things. — Damien Hirst

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

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

I just do what everybody asks me to do, in terms of media and stuff. — Damien Hirst

I always ignore money. — Damien Hirst

I like the confusion you get between science and religion ... that's where belief lies and art as well. — Damien Hirst

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

For me, art is always a kind of theater. — Damien Hirst

I've spent a long time avoiding painting and dealing with it from a distance. But as I get older, I'm more comfortable with it. — Damien Hirst

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. — Damien Hirst

You need a big ego to be an artist. — Damien Hirst

I think I like big issues, but I don't believe in God or religion. — Damien Hirst

Being best is a false goal, you have to measure success on your own terms. — Damien Hirst

There's no possible way you can get what you want. — Damien Hirst

I did a butterfly show in Berlin, and we had a guy who's an expert on butterflies; who bred them all and who looks after them all in the space. — Damien Hirst

You've got to be able to copy things faithfully before you can deviate. — Damien Hirst

Art goes on in your head. If you said something interesting, that might be a title for a work of art and I'd write it down. — Damien Hirst

But then architects don't build their own houses. — Damien Hirst

That's the great thing about art. Anybody can do it if you just believe. With practice, you can make great paintings. — Damien Hirst

Most people live in the city and go to the country at the weekend, and that's posh and aristocratic, but actually to live in the country and come to London when you can't take it any more is different. — Damien Hirst

The answer to how to live is to stop thinking about it. And just to live. But you're doing that anyway. However you intellectualise it, you still just live — Damien Hirst

The infinite possibilities. That's what used to do my nut in. — Damien Hirst

But whenever I look at the question of how to live, the answer's always staring me in the face. I'm already doing it. — Damien Hirst

I think as an artist you have to reinvent yourself every day. — Damien Hirst

It's a great advantage to be able to play people off against each other, isn't it? You go to Christie's and get a quote on something. And then you go to Phillips' and you tell them what Christie's has given you. I like auctions for artists. — Damien Hirst

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. — Damien Hirst

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

I think suicide is the most perfect thing you can do in life. — Damien Hirst

I think an ashtray is the most fantastically real thing. — Damien Hirst

When you've just done it, you're not sure. But when you've sat with it for a couple of hours and you don't want to do anything more to it, that's a great feeling. It can stand on its own two feet. — Damien Hirst

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

I made one untitled piece. — Damien Hirst

I definitely think about death. And every day your relationship with death changes. And every day I sort of feel like I know it more. I've always thought about it. — Damien Hirst

Immortality is really desirable, I guess. In terms of images, anyway. — Damien Hirst

For artists it's a lot easier to make art in bad times than it is in good times. When you've got no money it's easy to just drink your way through it and make great art. But if you're making lots of money it can be very problematic. — Damien Hirst

I always feel like the art's there and I just see it, so it's not really a lot of work. — Damien Hirst

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

Commercials are so contemporary and up to date that when you're involved in that visual world, you can't really go backwards. — Damien Hirst

Art comes from everywhere. It's your response to your surroundings. — Damien Hirst

Even as a kid in drawing class, I had real ambition. I wanted to be the best in the class, but there was always some other feller who was better; so I thought, 'It can't be about being the best, it has to be about the drawing itself, what you do with it.' That's kind of stuck with me. — Damien Hirst

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

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. — Damien Hirst

I did a load of medicine cabinets a long time ago and I named them after Sex Pistols songs. I suppose I must be getting old if I'm naming work after Philip Larkin poems. — Damien Hirst

I remember when you used to have your profession on your passport and I always thought that being a painter was the best one to be, because my heroes were Goya and Francis Bacon. — Damien Hirst

The spot paintings, the spin paintings, they're all a mechanical way to avoid the actual guy in a room, myself, with a blank canvas. — Damien Hirst

My Mum brought me up to believe that if you look after the pennies then the pounds look after themselves, and I could never do it. — Damien Hirst

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

In fact, the first piece of art I ever sold, I paid someone else to make the next one, so I could actually keep going out drinking. — Damien Hirst

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

The spot paintings and spin paintings were trying to find mechanical ways to make paintings. — Damien Hirst

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

As an artist, you don't stop making art because people are not buying it. — Damien Hirst

It's such a crass idea - you're either in love or out of love. — Damien Hirst

I love art. It is uplifting. — Damien Hirst

The best spot painting you can have by me is one painted by Rachel. — Damien Hirst

I gave up painting by 16. I secretly thought I would have been Rembrandt by then. — Damien Hirst

If the choice is between buying another building or a Pollock, I'd go for the Pollock every time. — Damien Hirst

Here's one from me: 'You have to be aware that everyone else is thinking far too hard about themselves to be thinking about you, whoever you are.' If you want it, you can have it. Once you know that, you can be free. — Damien Hirst

What I really like is minimum effort for maximum effect. — Damien Hirst

It's very easy to say, 'I could have done that,' after someone's done it. But I did it. You didn't. It didn't exist until I did it. — Damien Hirst

Buy art, build a museum, put your name on it, let people in for free. That's as close as you can get to immortality ... — Damien Hirst

I love color. I feel it inside me. It gives me a buzz. — Damien Hirst

Sometimes when you're drunk you can see better. — Damien Hirst

A painting probably is the most shocking increase in value, from what it costs to make to what you sell it for. — Damien Hirst