Damien Hirst

Hirst, who found fame amid the 1990s Young British Artist scene, launched his first NFT collection "The Currency" - 10,000 NFTs corresponding to 10,000 original ...

It said artworks for non-exchanged NFTs would be destroyed and vice versa. Some 5,149 picked the latter while 4,851 opted for the NFTs, according to London's Newport Street Gallery. Register now for FREE unlimited access to Reuters.com

About a year ago Damien Hirst sold thousands of NFTs of his famous spot paintings, giving buyers the choice to keep the digital art or swap for the original ...

We're just here to try and record today for the people of the future." "I thought it was taking too much of a risk to take the NFT. "I see why people picked the NFT, because it's also cool to say that Damien Hirst burnt my piece of art... Hirst says he views The Currency as a work of art in which people participate by buying, holding, selling and exchanging the works. "I think this has to be part of the process. NFTs certainly have their critics - but Hirst says it is not for anyone to judge what others appreciate as art. I was going to have art on the wall. In September 2021, the buyer of number 2,604, titled Revocation, sold it for $172,239 (£154,313). If I try and tell my mum I've got a picture of a picture that's going to be burnt, it doesn't make sense. By the end of the month, these will represent almost half. NFTs worth millions have since been destroyed - and now he's started setting fire to the originals, too. All 10,000 paintings are represented here, with the 5,149 works whose owners opted for the physical greyed out.

The artist, famous for his large-scale pieces made of pickled dead animals, is to incinerate almost half of the paintings he sold last summer.

The burning routine will continue daily at specified times until his exhibition closes at the end of this month. The piece of artwork not selected would be destroyed. The owner would have to choose by the summer of 2022 whether they wanted to keep the NFT, or trade it for the original canvas.

Artist installs six sculptural wood-burning fireplaces at his Newport Street Gallery in London for the final phase of NFT project "The Currency"

Perhaps the decision owes something to The Currency project being backed by the technology company Heni. The decision by Hirst to put all of his own works to the flame confirms his ultimate support for the NFT over the physical art work option, despite earlier Buyers could then choose to get the physical work—or have the analogue painting destroyed.

British artist Damien Hirst has already burned hundreds of oil paintings at his gallery in London as part of The Currency project.

As part of his project "The Currency," Damien Hirst released a collection of 10000 NFTs, each one corresponding to a physical artwork.

"Interesting strategy of maxing the carbon footprint for this collection," wrote another. "the value of art digital or physical which is hard to define at the best of times will not be lost it will be transferred to the nft as soon as they are burnt." A year after buying a piece from "The Currency," collectors had to make a choice. The pieces are being shown at the Newport Street Gallery in London and will be burned during the art fair Frieze London, which runs from Oct. The buyers were almost evenly split in their decisions, with 5,149 opting to trade their NFT for the original painting and 4,851 choosing the NFT. He streamed the event on Instagram and is set to burn thousands more works of art.