Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst (born 1965 in Bristol) is a British artist and probably the most famous of the group that has been dubbed "Young British Artists" (or YBAs). He is best known for his Natural History series in which dead animals (such as a shark, a sheep or a cow) are preserved in formaldehyde.

He studied fine arts at Goldsmith's College, University of London from 1986 to 1989. In 1988 he gained attention for curating the student exhibition, Freeze, in a warehouse in East London. His first solo exhibition, In and Out of Love, was held at the Woodstock Street Gallery in London in 1991. His autobiography, I Want To Spend the Rest of My Life Everywhere, with Everyone, One to One, Always, Forever, Now, was published in 1998.

His works include:

• The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), composed of a tiger shark in a glass tank of formaldehyde. This piece was nominated for a Turner Prize.
• Pharmacy (1992)
• Amonium Biborate (1993)
• Away from the Flock (1994), composed of a sheep in a glass tank of formaldehyde.
• Mother and Child Divided, composed of a cow and a calf sliced in half in a glass tank of formaldehyde.
• Two Fucking and Two Watching, which includes a rotting cow and bull. This work was banned from exhibition in New York by public health officials.
• God, composed of a cabinet containing pharmaceutical products

Hirst also painted a simple colour pattern for the Beagle 2 probe. This pattern will be used to calibrate the probe's cameras after it has landed on Mars

More recently, Hirst is venturing into the world of commerce by drawing up plans to open his own sea-food restaurant in the seaside town of Ilfracombe in the UK. Hirst's previous restaurant, Pharmacy, located in Notting Hill, London, closed in September 2003.