Artist. Apparently. Hirst was the winner of the 1995
Turner Prize, which is given to artists, so this may support the assertion that he is an artist.
Hirst was born in 1965, in Bristol. From 1986 to 1989 he studied a fine art degree at Goldsmith's College, University of London. Some of his most famous works include dead sheep, sliced cows and swordfish, all preserved in formaldehyde. These works were controversial not only because, like a great deal of modern art, the chattering classes enjoy debates about what constitutes art, but also because it raised the heckles of animal rights campaigners over whether it was acceptable to kill animals for art.
Hirst has been quoted as saying he wanted to make art that everybody could believe in
Most recently, Hirst hit the headlines again for his piece Hymn, a 20ft bronze statue, which was purchased by Charles Saatchi for £1M. Describe as the first key work of British art for the 21st century. In May of 2000, Hirst made undisclosed goodwill payments to Norman Emms, designer of the £14.99 toy Young Scientist Anatomy Set made by Humbrol Limited. The similarities between the two figures is striking, even allowing for the similarites you might expect between anatomical models, one might at least have expected the shades in the colouring to differ. Apparently this did not occur to Mr Hirst. Yeah, really got me believing in that bit of art.
Other notable projects include dear Damien's involvement with Fat Les, a collection of luminaries such as Keith Allen, Michael Barrymore and the bass player from Blur, who get together to record football songs.
Misunderstood genius or talentless self-promoting wanker? Oh reeeaaallly tough one to call.