Thousands of paintings by Damien Hirst burnt by the artist

Artist Damien Hirst torched thousands of artworks from his collection named “The Currency” in a unique and fascinating event. He sold 1,000 of his colourful spot paintings as non-fungible tokens online and then lit them on fire (NFTs). Additionally, he live-streamed the act of burning the artworks, and as a result, videos of the incident have gone viral online.

Before the event, the artist posted an explanation of his choice on Instagram. “I shall burn 1,000 The Currency artworks that I kept as NFTs tomorrow. The value of art, whether it be digital or physical and difficult to define at the best of times, will be transferred to the NFT as soon as they are burned, he wrote. “A lot of people think I’m burning millions of dollars worth of art, but I’m not. I’m completing the transformation of these physical artworks into NFTs by burning the physical versions.

According to the BBC, shortly after the collection was introduced, he gave customers the option of keeping their NFT or purchasing a tangible piece of the artwork. For those who selected NFT rather than a tangible copy, he disposed of the artwork.

“Many people believe that I am burning works of art worth millions of dollars, but I’m not. By burning the originals, I’ve finished converting these physical works of art into NFTs. The value of art, whether it be digital or real, will not be lost; rather, it will be transferred to the NFT as soon as they are burned,” according to Hirst, who spoke to the BBC.

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Hirst also posted a photo with the remark, “Finished the burn!!!,” after the event was over.

While the concept astounded some people, others were not persuaded and voiced their disapproval. An Instagram user wrote, “Incredible moment in the history of the arts.” “Brilliant. Was there to see it! “, added a third. A third person said, “Waste of material.” One more just wrote “iconic.”