One of Britain’s most famous artists has been setting fire to thousands of pieces of his own work, worth up to £10 million.
Damien Hirst claims he is not burning the art but ‘transforming it’, as he began the stunt at a new exhibition in London.
The 57-year-old is destroying a collection of his polka-dot-style artworks which fans decided against exchanging for non-fungible tokens (NFTs).
The project first began in July 2021 when collectors of 10,000 items were given the choice of either keeping the original pieces or the accompanying digital NFT.
More than half of the collectors, 5,149, decided to keep the physical piece, but 4,851 opted for the NFT.
Each is worth around £2,000.
The 4,851 physical pieces being burned have a value of £9.702 million.
NFTs are unique digital tokens that cannot be replicated but can be traded and bought – making them of significant interest to investors and collectors. They can represent real-world items like art.
The British artist’s ‘The Currency’ exhibition, at Newport Street Gallery, south London, will see all of the physical artworks burned at a specified time each day until the event ends on October 30.
Speaking at the exhibition while burning one piece, Hirst said: ‘I’ve never know really what the message is and I think as an artist you’re asking a question disguised as an answer.’
He explained that despite people claiming to know what he is trying to convey, he felt the process was ‘all about finding out what happens next’.
The Bristol-born, Leeds-raised artist came to prominence in 1988, when he was a student at Goldsmiths, University of London, after conceiving and curating the group exhibition Freeze.
The artist was dressed in silver metallic boiler-suit trousers and matching fire safety gloves as he collected each piece and burned it in a contained fire box.
Before burning each artwork, he showed it to a camera to log its unique code and keep track of every piece that had been burnt.
Hirst suggested it felt ‘better than he expected’ to be burning the work, adding: ‘I think the idea I was worried about it but I think the reality of it is that it’s more transformational. It feels like the NFTs are sort of being (made) permanently as NFTs.
‘I’m kind of rooted in the physical art world and I find the digital art world more challenging but I think this has to be part of the process to create truly digital artworks is to destroy the physical artworks as the two can’t exist at the same time.’
Reflecting on the future of digital artwork, he added: ‘I think they’re just an important part of our world, NFTs, of course people, some people, are going to think these are a waste of materials but some people think other people are a waste of space.’
Created in 2016, the artworks were created using enamel paint on handmade paper.
No colour was repeated twice on one piece.
The titles of the artworks were also generated through a machine which learned some of Hirst’s favourite song lyrics.
To ensure their authenticity, each artwork was numbered, titled, stamped and signed by Hirst on the back with a watermark and hologram containing a portrait of the artist also etched into the paper.
Damien Hirst: The Currency with HENI runs until October 30 at the Newport Street Gallery.
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