The Guardian profiles painter Rachel Howard this week, Damien Hirst’s first assistant and spot painter, who is stepping into the spotlight on her own this year with her first UK public gallery solo exhibition.  “We were mates and he needed someone to paint spots, and I was waitressing and I didn’t want a proper job – so I ended up working for him to earn enough money to make my own work,” Howard says. “It was a very good symbiotic relationship.” (more…)