Damien Hirst may have slowed down since bursting onto the scene as unofficial leader of the "Young British Artist" movement in the 1990s, but he remains one of the most divisive figures in the art world today.

His For the Love of God (2007), a skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds which sold for $100 million, and The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living (1991), a dead shark floating in formaldehyde, have been both derided as stunts and heralded as groundbreaking.

Since 1986, Hirst also produced a series he calls "spot paintings," which are canvases featuring grids of dots of various colors and sizes.

Of the roughly 1,400 canvases, 300 will be on display from January 12 spanning the globe in 11 galleries run by US art dealer Larry Gagosian.

Hirst produced the paintings through his studio with the help of assistants, but reportedly only painted five of them, causing some to question the integrity of the collection.

Recently, he agreed to answer questions from Reuters via email, discussing his process and taking on his detractors.

Q: Can you talk about the genesis of the spot paintings? Where did the concept come from and why a 'factory process' instead of the usual way of applying brush to canvas?

A: "Rather than think about whether a painting is important or high brow, I tried to imagine a painting that if you left it in the street outside a busy bar would it be still there in the morning or would someone think it looked cool enough to take home? They are made by applying a brush to canvas and they are hand-made in that way. I think it's important that they are hand-made but equally important that they look machine-made. I've never had a problem with using assistants."

Q: What is your thinking behind the spot paintings? How do you explain their relevance?

A: "I was taught by painters who believed that as an artist you paint how you feel and I believed in that for a long time. And then I lost faith in it and wanted to create a system where whatever decisions you make within a painting, the paintings end up happy. And I came up with spot paintings."

Q: Is it true you painted only five of the some 1,400 spot paintings? How can you put your name to works with which you are only very loosely linked? Or is that to miss the point?

A: "Totally missing the point, and it amazes me that I still get asked these questions. You have to look at it as if the artist is an architect, and we don't have a problem that great architects don't actually build the houses."

Q: David Hockney has been quoted as saying that to paint you need the eye, the hand and the heart, but two won't do. Do you agree?

A: "I totally agree and every single spot painting contains my eye, my hand and my heart. I imagine you will want to say that if I don't actually paint them myself then how can my hand be there? But I controlled every aspect of them coming into being."

Reuters