Thousands of works of art set on fire. British artist Damien Hirst kept his promise: he started burning hundreds and hundreds of paintings after collectors preferred the NFT version – literally a non-fungible token – instead of the physical work of art.
It all started in July 2021 from a collection of 10 thousand NFTs, corresponding to 10 thousand original works of art by Hirst, from the series of his famous Spot Paintings. The physical artworks, depicting colored spots, were created by Hirst in 2016, using paint on paper. Each work is handmade, numbered, titled, stamped and signed by the artist on the back. Each job was acquired starting from a base of two thousand dollars, reaching 50 million dollars after a year.
Collectors were given the option to choose whether to keep the NFT or exchange it for the physical artwork. The exchange period ended on July 27, 2022 with the result that just over half of the buyers decided to keep the physical artwork: approximately 5,149 chose the artwork, while 4,851 opted for NFTs, according to the Newport Street Gallery in London.
Hirst, during a live streaming on social media, then destroyed a thousand works of art using fireplaces “Many people think I’m burning millions of dollars worth of art but I’m not doing it, I’m completing the transformation of these physical works of art into Nft, by burning the physical versions, “explained the artist on Instagram. “The value of digital or physical art will not be lost, it will be transferred to the NFT as soon as they are burned”. The works will continue to be burned until the exhibition closes The Currency on October 30th.
NFTs became very popular last year as crypto speculators tried to cash in on rising prices but sales volumes have fallen more recently. Hirst, 57, is known for his divisive works, including The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of SomeoneLivingconsisting of a floating dead shark e Mother and Child, Divided, a cow and a calf cut in two. He is also famous for For The LoveOf God, a platinum cast of an 18th century human skull encrusted with diamonds. Asked how he felt about burning the works, Hirst said: “It’s beautiful, better than I expected.”