Damien Hirst 達米恩·赫斯特 (1965) Painter Sculptor British

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British artist Damien Hirst has shocked and surprised the art world with his unusual works, including glass displays of dead animals and medicine cabinet sculptures.
A successful and controversial artist, Damien Hirst was born in Bristol, England, on June 7, 1965. He emerged as a leading figure in the Young British Artists movement in the late 1980s and 1990s. His works, which include dead animal displays and spin-art paintings, have sold for exceptionally high prices. Hirst is one of the wealthiest artists living today.
Raised Catholic, Damien Hirst grew up in Leeds. His early religion education would later factor into his artwork. He showed an interest in the grisly and gruesome aspects of life early on. His mother would later describe him as a morbid child.
As a teenager, Hirst liked to look at illustrated pathology books, fascinated by the images of disease and injury. He also showed an interest in drawing, a passion his mother supported. His father, a car mechanic, left the family when he was only 12 years old.
Hirst got into trouble as teenager, and was caught shoplifting twice. Despite his sometimes wild behavior, he made his way to college. Hirst studied art at the Goldsmith's College at the University of London. While there, he put together a ground-breaking exhibit entitled "Freeze" in 1988. The show featured the works of Fiona Rae, Sarah Lucas, and others, as well as his own.
Hirst and his fellow students became part of an emerging movement known as the Young British Artists. They were known for their unusual materials and for their challenging art concepts. One of Hirst's early works, "With Dead Head," illustrates his interest in death and shaking up the art establishment. In the photograph the artist, with a huge grin on his face, poses next to a severed head in a morgue.
While not everyone was enthralled with his work, Hirst received support from Charles Saatchi, advertising titan and art collector. Saatchi lent financial assistance to Hirst, and also started collecting Hirst's pieces, which also advanced the artist's reputation. Saatchi bought two of Hirst's medicine cabinet sculptures, which one critic later said constituted "a constellation of still lifes that express and reflect the human body as a field of vulnerabilities and of hopeful medical interventions."
In 1991, Hirst had his first solo exhibition at the Woodstock Street Gallery in London. He also participated in the Young British Artists show at the Saatchi Gallery the following year. There he displayed "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," a 14-foot-long glass tank with a shark preserved in formaldehyde. The shark had been bought from an Australian fisherman.
Hirst continued to set the art world on fire with his work at the 1993 Venice Bienniale, a renowned international art exhibition. There he showed "Mother and Child Divided," an installation piece that featured a bisected cow and her calf displayed in four vitrines, or glass cases, filled with formaldehyde. With his controversial and sometimes gruesome works, Hirst soon became one of the best known artists in Britain. He won the prestigious Turner Prize in 1995. "It's amazing what you can do with an E in A-Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw," Hirst said in his acceptance speech.
達米恩·赫斯特（Damien Hirst，又譯「達明·赫斯特」、「達米安·赫斯特」，1965年6月7日－）生於布里斯托，是新一代英國藝術家的主要代表人物之一。他主導了90年代的英國藝術發展並享有很高的國際聲譽。赫斯特在1986年9月就讀於倫敦大學金匠學院。1995年獲得英國當代藝術大獎特納獎。
赫斯特對於生物有機體的有限性十分感興趣。他把動物的屍體浸泡在甲醛溶液里的系列作品《自然歷史》（Natural History）有着極高的知名度。他的標誌性作品就是《生者對死者無動於衷》（The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living）， 一條用甲醛保存在玻璃櫃裏面的18英尺長的虎鯊。這件作品在2004年進行銷售，其價格之高讓赫斯特在作品價格最高的在世藝術家中排名第二。
赫斯特在作品裏還頻繁地使用日常素材，這可以在作品《對逃亡的後天無能》（The Acquired Inability to Escape）里看出來。一個人造環境裏，光滑的具有設計感的現代玻璃窗認真地提醒我們這是一個玻璃缸，或者動物圈養場。赫斯特所展示的是，儘管在對逃避現實進行徹底嘗試，但試圖想要擺脫這種白領階層的存在圈套是不可能的。典型的辦公風格元素作為人類出席過的痕跡，同樣也暗示着，在一個貧瘠和人造的環境裏，生命不能被減少至僅僅具有功能性。
達米恩·赫斯特出生於英國布里斯托爾，在列斯長大。他的父親是一位汽車維修兼銷售員，母親名叫瑪莉，過去是一位天主教徒，在市民諮詢局（Citizens Advice Bureau）工作。赫斯特的父母在他12歲時離異，而母親則曾表示｢從他年輕時就管不住他｣。赫斯特曾兩度因行竊而遭逮捕[1]。赫斯特認為他的母親並不是可以容忍他的叛逆的人；她曾將赫斯特的龐克皮褲剪成碎片，把他的性手槍唱片放在爐子上加熱做成裝水果的碗。他說：｢如果她不喜歡我的穿着，她會很快的把我從公車站帶走。｣然而，赫斯特的母親鼓勵赫斯特繪畫，這可能是她對赫斯特的教育之中唯一成功的部份。