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Artist Damien Hirst burns thousands of his paintings. Here’s why
Artist Damien Hirst live-streamed the event of him burning his paintings on Instagram.
In an unusual and interesting event, artist Damien Hirst burned thousands of paintings that were a part of his collection called "The Currency". He set 1,000 of his colourful spot paintings on fire after selling them in digital form as non-fungible tokens (NFTs). He also live-streamed himself burning the paintings and now videos from the event have created a buzz online.
Before the event, the artist took to Instagram to share a post explaining his decision. “Tomorrow I will be burning my 1,000 The Currency artworks which I kept as NFTs. A lot of people think I’m burning millions of dollars of art but I’m not, I’m completing the transformation of these physical artworks into NFTs by burning the physical versions, 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 and I will be live-streaming the full burn here on Instagram,” he wrote.
Soon after launching the collection, he gave a choice to the buyers between keeping the NFT or acquiring a piece of the physical artwork, reports the BBC. He destroyed the artwork for those who opted for NFT instead of a physical copy.
“A lot of people think I'm burning millions of dollars of art but I'm not. I'm completing the transformation of these physical artworks into NFTs by burning the physical versions. 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,” Hirst told the BBC.
Take a look at a video from the event that shows him burning his artworks:
After the completion of the event, Hirst also shared a picture with the caption, “Finished the burn!!!”
While the idea amazed some, others were not convinced and expressed their displeasure. “Incredible moment in the history of the arts,” posted an Instagram user. “Brilliant. Was there to witness it!,” shared another. “Waste of material,” commented a third. “Iconic,” wrote a fourth.
