A matter of art and soul

DAMIEN HIRST: THE FIRST LOOK

Channel 4, 8pm DAMIEN HIRST: THOUGHTS, WORK, LIFE

Channel 4, 12.15am

“I DON’T believe in God and I don’t believe in religions. But I believe in art.” Sometimes, when speaking about Damien Hirst, it’s important to remember that; that behind all the shock-horror headlines and multi-million pound auctions he sees himself first and foremost as an artist. Not as a controversialist. Not as a businessman, but an artist.

He is those other things, too, of course. And we tend to get wrapped up in the headlines – the cutting up of sharks or the amount of bling he attached to a skull for his work For The Love Of God. But art is his belief system.

This matters. Whatever you think of his work, you have to recognise that he begins from a position of artistic conviction. He has a way with a quick quip (“It’s amazing what you can do with an E in A Level art, a twisted imagination and a chainsaw,” he said when winning the Turner Prize), an eye for the shock image and the wherewithal to carry an idea through. But if the ideas were useless he wouldn’t have had the impact he’s had on British art over the past two decades.

You may feel differently. If so, tonight’s double bill on Channel 4 may not appeal. Personally I think it’s catnip. The First Look sees the artist give comedian Noel Fielding a tour of his retrospective at Tate Modern which opens this week. But the real deal is Chris King’s film in the early hours. A wonderful collage of old TV clips and home movie footage, it’s a genuinely engaging, eloquent account of an artist at work. And the soundtrack’s great too.