Damien Hirst: biography and photo. Career

The most expensive contemporary artist is called a genius and a psycho. Focussed on the aesthetics of death, he earned 300 million euros, selling collectors corpses of animals, filled with formaldehyde.

Related to the death of work cause many disgust, but nevertheless exhibited in fashion galleries and go for fabulous money at auctions. Shocking his works, the author was called the "artist of art" (from the word art - "art"), which reflects his inner essence. It is possible to treat the strange creativity of this provocateur differently from art in different ways, but it can not be denied that his creations cause the strongest resonance.

Craving for the image of death

Damien Hirst was born in 1965 in the UK. The boy grew rebellious, and after the father's departure from the family he completely escaped the hands of a strict mother. He was even arrested for petty thefts in stores.

An early display of talent for writing paintings led a 21-year-old boy to the college Goldsmith, considered very innovative. It is believed that it was here that the future artistic genius had an unusual desire to rethink death. Hirst worked in not the most favorable times for creativity. In London, one after another, the galleries were closed, and the unknown creators had no chance to put their works on public display.

Getting to know the patron

When the college graduate was instructed to organize an opening day, he was very concerned about the venue. Choosing for the event of abandoned premises, the young man has not lost. The exhibition was successful, and the work of Hirst and his classmates surprised the audience.

The next show took place at an abandoned factory, where a wealthy collector came to dream of new interesting works. Seeing the installation of a young artist, representing a huge number of boxes of cardboard, hand-painted with colors, the rich man was struck by the unusual composition. He offered young talent cooperation for decent money and for many years became his patron.

Familiar installation

Damien Hirst, whose career after this acquaintance swiftly went up, collects a lot of money for another installer, which became a landmark in his work. He understands that contemporary art is, first of all, an unusual idea, and to realize it is much more profitable than just drawing.

Hurst was grateful to his patron, who explained to the ambitious novice artist that the most valuable thing is provocation.

The work, which was a huge aquarium filled with formaldehyde instead of water, brought the artist one of the most prestigious awards in the world.

Inside the vessel rested a dead shark more than four meters long, caught off the coast of Australia and personified the impossibility of death. The work sold brought the author six and a half million pounds sterling, and this was just the beginning.

World Glory

Got instantly known in the country, Damien Hirst, whose biography becomes a topic for discussion in a secular get-together, has dreamed of worldwide fame. And she found it - after the Venice Biennale.

In 1993, an outrageous master presented to the audience a next variation on the theme of death, calling it "Divided Mother and Child." In two transparent aquariums there were dismembered bodies of a cow and a calf, which both frightened and bewitched simultaneously. Visitors of the exhibition admitted that the contemplation of such an unusual sight caused a feeling of compassion and sympathy.

Another motif in the unusual creativity of the shocking artist is the butterfly, whom he considered a real symbol of death, Hurst Damien. The works provoked fierce criticism from animal advocates, who were indignant at the British's inappropriate behavior. His installations with thousands of fluttering moths dying in front of the audience were exhibited in the London gallery.

The most expensive work

2007 is marked by the creation of a work that has become a symbol of creativity and big money, recognized as one of the most expensive in the world. The skull, made of platinum, is encrusted with diamonds, the number of which exceeds eight thousand. And in the center of the forehead a huge pink pear-shaped stone stands out as a bright spot.

A skull with human teeth was bought for fifty million dollars. Damien Hirst felt that decorating death is an excellent reason not to be afraid of her and to reconcile with the inevitable.

Life and death

If we talk about scandalous sculptures and installations of the most expensive artist, then the theme of death in them is the main one. It carries the ideological burden of the confrontation between the denial of death and its inevitability. "It's too hard for people to realize that you can not live forever, and all my works are devoted to this thought. But this is not a gloomy view of the world. I want death to be an inspiration to my viewers, "Damien Hirst explained his position.

The artist's painting is devoid of this theme, except for a series of "Kaleidoscopes" in which dead butterflies are glued to the canvas, creating the most amazing patterns.

Hurst is proud of his abstract works, consisting of multi-colored circles, the shades of which do not repeat. Each picture is called a narcotic or stimulant drug.

Source of the idea

Scandalous artist Hurst Damien recently accused of not being himself creating all of his creations. Many assistants work on it, producing eccentric works on a mass scale. An influential person in the art world said that he is physically present at the birth of all works and is the source of the idea, therefore his authorship is undeniable. And the creative process, according to Hirst, is a concept, not fulfillment.

Awareness of the inevitability of one's own death

The artist who sings of death has never feared her. He used drugs, as if trying to bring his end closer, balancing on the brink. Made of a human fear of a bright and selling show, Damien Hirst only once thought about the chosen path.

When his best friend died of a heart attack, the artist felt that he himself was mortal, experiencing a real horror. He stopped experimenting with his life and dedicated it to a civil wife and children. Damien acknowledged the rightness of his authoritarian mother, realizing that educating the hooligan is a very difficult matter.

Creativity or money?

In 2008, Damien Hirst was officially recognized as the wealthiest artist, gaining at the auction 110 million pounds sterling. His ambiguous works, causing conflicting emotions, are exhibited in fashion galleries around the world and become more expensive every year.

However, an outrageous artist claims that he is only interested in creativity for the sake of the people of the future, and not money or fame. In his sincerity, few people believe, because one day he already announced the unwillingness to dismember the corpses of animals and put them in front of the audience. However, at the next exhibition, he again presented the lifeless flesh in formaldehyde, realizing that his provocative creativity is now in price.

Money rules the world

Damien Hirst, whose works often appear on the pages of various magazines devoted to art, is so popular that other artists use his figure in his work. It is known the installation of the Spanish author, depicting the suicide of a brilliant brawler.

Connoisseurs of the works of Hirst believe that after his death, already not expensive creations will rise in price several times.

A well-known British critic concluded that our world, in which money rules, deserves just such an artist.