Hirst Gives Interviews to British Papers and Bloomberg

If you’ve been wondering how Damien Hirst is feeling with all of the talk going on about his art, here are some answers. The Guardian and the Independent run quotes from a press conference while Bloomberg gets an exclusive interview:

On the work in the sale, from The Independent:

“As an artist, you make art for people who have not been born yet,” he said, adding that the auction was, “a ‘greatest hits’ exhibition. I have tried to reinvent myself. I’m a bit exhausted now. I’m Damien Hirst, I can’t get away from that. ( . . .) The work in this exhibition is of a younger artist. It is a great way for me to draw a line across it and move on.”

On Robert Hughes’s harsh words, from The Guardian:

He snapped “Robert Who?”, of the critic Robert Hughes who has just dismissed Hirst as the embodiment of the crass commercialisation of art. “I would expect nothing less. I bet he drives around in a horse and cart, and wept when Queen Victoria died. It all looks a bit Luddite to me.” But it was clear the attack hurt. He revealed he took Hughes’ magisterial book on Goya on holidays with him, to read on the beach. “I only got to about page 10, when I came on the line about Damien Hirst not being a real artist like Goya, and I just couldn’t read any more. I felt a bit sick actually.”

On what he might do with the proceeds from the sale, from Bloomberg:

You can say it’s a lot of cash, but there’s 230 works in here. We could sell it all next week, and we could get record prices, and then I could spend all the money on one painting by Francis Bacon, and it all goes back into the art market.

(Special bonus content: check out The Independent’s comparison chart of Hirst and the Dutch Master.)

Rembrandt: I’m Just Like Him (The Independent)

Reformed Britart rebel takes time out with £65m sale (The Guardian)

Damien Hirst Sells Pickled Beasts, Pockets Profits: Interview (Bloomberg)