Damien Hirst-the Artist Who Burned His Art After Selling NFTs

After selling a number of non-fungible tokens or NFTs, Damien Hirst started destroying hundreds of his own pieces of art. Additionally, the artist instructed customers who purchased items from his most recent collection to select either the real artwork or the NFT that represented it. Furthermore, he explained to those who selected NFTs that he will destroy the associated physical piece. When asked how it felt to burn his artwork, Hirst responded, "It feels good, better than I expected." Hirst collected each piece and burnt it in a controlled firebox while wearing silver metallic boiler suit pants and matching fire safety gloves. Most importantly, the works Hirst burnt carry an estimation of approximately £10 million collectively.

Hirst burning art after selling NFTs

Damien Hirst released his first NFT collection, The Currency, last year, consisting of  10,000 NFTs, corresponding to 10,000 original works of art. Moreover, when purchasing one, collectors had to decide whether to keep the NFT or exchange it for the actual piece of art. According to London's Newport Street Gallery, 5,149 customers selected original works of art, while 4,851 went with NFTs. In addition, Hirst and his assistants notified the buyers that they will destroy the artworks for the non-exchanged NFTs. Consequently, earlier this week, Hirst informed his Instagram followers that he would burn the first 1,000 artworks on Tuesday. According to reports, the NFTs, which showed colorful spots, sold for $2,000 (£1,800) each. On another note, the Turner Prize winner and assistants used tongs to place individual artworks heaped in stacks into fireplaces at the exhibition as spectators watched live on the internet. Furthermore, Hirst created these artworks in 2016 with enamel paint on handmade paper and numbered, titled, stamped, and signed each one of them. Additionally, the artist will burn the art pieces up until October 30 when The Currency exhibition closes. Also, before Hirst torched each piece of art, he displayed it to a camera, which recorded its unique code to keep track of every piece that he burnt.

People's Reactions

Many people have criticized Hirst for destroying his own priceless works of art during a cost-of-living crisis. Eddy Frankel of Time Out stated, "It's almost like Damien Hirst is so out of touch with the real world that he's basically transcended to another plane of existence, populated only by oligarchs and the once-edgy artists they collect." "Still, look at it this way, even if you can't afford to turn on your heating at home, just go to Newport Street Gallery: it's free and it should be nice and toasty with all those £20,000 paintings on fire." Also Read - Minecraft Developer Mojang Studios, Bans NFTs in Game

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