Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst is one of the most influential figures in the British art scene of the 1990s and is known as one of the highest-earning artists in the UK. In September 2008, he took an unprecedented step as an artist operating within the art market, bypassing galleries and dealers to sell his work Beautiful Inside My Head Forever directly through a Sotheby’s auction. This marked the first time in Sotheby’s history that an artist had sold their own work at auction without intermediaries. Hirst, who hails from Bristol, has a connection with Banksy and participated in Banksy’s 2015 art project Dismaland. His work continues to challenge the boundaries between art, commerce, and the role of the artist in the contemporary market.