Bloomberg‘s John Varoli interviews Damien Hirst in the Ukraine as Hirst sojourns with his most important collector and paton, Victor Pinchuk. Here are some of the more interesting observations (all bullet points are quoted from Varoli’s article):

• “I’m not buying,” Hirst said in reply to a question about his own art collecting. “I think prices will get more favorable. Everyone has to see what will happen with the market and when it will bottom out and settle down. My business manager said, ‘Cash is king at the moment.’”

• Drinking a glass of water in the 6th-floor cafe, the artist denied that the contemporary-art market surge of the past 10 years was an asset-price bubble. “There’s too much focus on the money side,” he said. “It’s not about what they are worth. I really believe art is the most powerful currency in the world. I think that’s why it trades for large amounts of money.”

• Hirst said he owned about 3,000 artworks himself. “I have five paintings by Francis Bacon, and works by Andy Warhol, Richard Prince, John Currin, and Jeff Koons. Sarah Lucas is an artist that I like. I also have some Old Master works, one by (Alessandro) Magnasco, 17th century. It shows a monk praying before the cross.”

Hirst Says Art Prices May Still Fall as His Biggest Show Opens (Bloomberg)