• User:

If I were there, I wouldn't need any.

• Art expert:

In 1994, an artist visiting a Hirst exhibition in London’s Serpentine Gallery poured black ink in the formaldehyde tank that enclosed a dead sheep in the piece “Away From The Flock ‘94.” At the trial where Hirst was compelled to testify, the prosecution asked him, “Why are you an artist?” to which he replied, “Why are you a lawyer?”

• Art expert:

Hirst’s photograph With Dead Head, 1981-1991 (NY000507 lot 117) depicts the teenaged artist smiling next to a decapitated human head. Reflecting on the photograph Hirst said: “My eyes look like I’m laughing but actually I’m terrified. I’m expecting the eyes on that head to open, for the head to fly at my neck. I’m thinking ‘Quick! Quick! Get this shot over with.’”

• Art expert:

Hirst’s original “dot paintings” of pharmaceuticals, deuterated compounds and controlled substances were made of gloss household paint on canvas and reflect a life long fascination with mortality.

• Art expert:

Regarding his interest in pills, Hirst stated “all pharmaceutical drugs exist in the space between birth and death. The drugs are meant to keep you alive.”