In the past, Damien Hirst has expressed an strong level of bitterness and contempt toward studio assistants who have asked to have one of his spot paintings on the grounds that they were only going to sell the work for money. He’s also commented on his hurt feelings when he discovered that friends to whom he had made gifts of artwork had sold their works. It is an admirable position. Hirst remarked to the studio assistant that the assistant could execute the work better than he, knowing full well that the issue of value. The Ukrainian television interviewer Olia Freimut asked Hirst to draw something she could sell–and he did.

‘I was amazed when he started drawing a picture of me on the back of a press release. He put dollar signs in my eyes because I wanted to sell it for money. He also included his signature butterflies.’

Then Hirst, 43, who made £111 million in a two-day Sotheby’s auction of 223 pieces last September, added the flourish that could make the sketch worth thousands  –  his signature.

Adds Olia: ‘I don’t think I am going to sell it. I want to keep it as a memento and pass it on to my three-year-old daughter Zlata.’

Says a spokesman for Hirst: ‘He often does scribbles and doodles for people that ask him. If I were her, I’d hold on to it.’

Is Doodle Hirst’s New Masterpiece? (Daily Mail)