Damien Hirst U. K. , b. 1965

Damien Hirst is a contemporary artist, entrepreneur, and art collector. He often cited as a key member of the Young British Artists (YBAs), who dominated the art scene in the UK during the 1990s.

Death is a central theme in the artist's ouevre. He gained notoriety for a series of artworks in which dead and dissected animals (including a shark, a sheep and a cow) are preserved in formaldehyde. The most widely recognised work of these was The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, a 14-foot (4.3 m) tiger shark immersed in formaldehyde in a clear display case. Hirst has also made "spin paintings", created on a spinning circular surface, and "spot paintings", which are rows of randomly coloured c created by his assistants.