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Born in London, Jeremy Deller, 54, gained an art history degree at the Courtauld Institute in 1988. He went on to become a conceptual, video and installation artist. In 2004, he won the Turner prize for his mixed media installation Memory Bucket, which documents his travels through Texas. In 2010 he was awarded the RSA’s Albert Medal and in 2013 he represented the UK at the Venice Biennale. From 2007 to 2011 he served as a Tate trustee. He lives in London.
Which living person do you most admire and why?
Either Stevie Wonder or Willie Nelson. Hopefully, no explanation required.
What is the trait you most deplore in yourself?
I am always right.
Property aside, what’s the most expensive thing you’ve bought?
Jüngling (1917) by Erich Heckel.
What is your most treasured possession?
My hair.
What is your wallpaper?
Phone: Rod Stewart circa 1974, full glam. Computer: a photo of a male orangutan sedated in an operating theatre in Malaysia, having shotgun pellets removed from his body after being attacked by loggers.
What would your superpower be?
I would be able to read a book by touching it.
What do you most dislike about your appearance?
My voice.
If you could bring something extinct back to life, what would you choose?
Prince.
Who would play you in the film of your life?
Worzel Gummidge.
What is your most unappealing habit?
I cut my toenails with a knife.
What is your favourite smell?
Amyl nitrite.
What is your favourite word?
Sinuous.
Which book changed your life?
Electric Eden: Unearthing Britain’s Visionary Music by Rob Young and The Plot Against America by Philip Roth, the fictitious account of Charles Lindbergh’s proto-fascist presidency told through the eyes of an eight-year-old Jewish boy called Philip.
What did you want to be when you were growing up?
More successful with girls.
What was the best kiss of your life?
Not strictly a kiss, but an elephant did once inspect my face with its trunk.
Which living person do you most despise and why?
Anyone who rides noisy motorbikes.
Who would you invite to your dream dinner party?
John, Paul, George and Ringo.
If you could go back in time, where would you go?
Teotihuacan, Mexico, around 400AD.
What is the closest you’ve ever come to death?
Three squaddies on a train in 1995.
What single thing would improve the quality of your life?
A garden.
What has been your closest brush with the law?
A cease and desist letter from snooty solicitors (wankers).
What song would you like played at your funeral?
Highwayman by the Highwaymen.
How would you like to be remembered?
Differently.
Where would you most like to be right now?
Rio Frio cave, near Concan, in the hill country of West Texas at dusk, to watch millions of free-tailed bats leave their roost to go feeding.
Tell us a secret
For years I have read this column and resented whoever subjects themselves to it. Now I am one of those people and I don’t even have a comedy tour or cookery book to promote.
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