The Art Damien Hirst Stole

Posted by Fabio 5 July 2012

In 1995, Damien Hirst defended his work with the rationale, “It’s very easy to say, ‘I could have done that,’ after someone’s done it. But I did it. You didn’t. It didn’t exist until I did it.” (Above picture by Thomas Downing, 1969)

In 2000, he decided that doing it was not the justification after all: “I don’t think the hand of the artist is important on any level, because you’re trying to communicate an idea.”

In 2006, the idea of the artist was not important on any level either: “Lucky for me, when I went to art school we were a generation where we didn’t have any shame about stealing other people’s ideas. You call it a tribute”.

In 2009, Anthony Haden-Guest interviewed Hirst: “Other artists have attacked you for using their ideas. John LeKay said the skulls were his idea. John Armleder … was doing spot paintings. And some say Walter Robinson did the spin paintings first.” Hirst’s tribute was: “Fuck ’em all!” _Charles Thomson Read full article here.