British artist Damien Hirst started burning hundreds of his paintings after art collectors decided to keep their non-fungible coins (NFTs), which are blockchain-based assets based on their digital images instead of the actual object.
Hirst, famous for creating artworks about wealth, launched his first collection of NFTs – The Currency – 10,000 NFTs corresponding to 10,000 original paintings depicting vibrant spots in July 2021.
Collectors were forced to decide either to save the NFT that was reported sold for $2,000 or swap it in exchange for the actual artwork.
Nearly 5,150 chose the physical item, while 4,851 chose the NFTs. Hirst announced to his Instagram followers that he was planning to burn 1000 artworks just for fun.
“When did I make the decision that I would burn my work? After I offered people the chance to select between digital art and physical art, I had to decide what should be done with my physical artwork for everyone who selected to go digital. That was when I realized I had to burn all my physical artwork,” the artist said.
“And when we made the NFTs, we burned them into existence, so it was sensible to eliminate the physical components by burning them to non-existence. It made some logic to myself.”
The artworks were constructed in 2016 using enamel paint on paper, and each is numbered, titled, stamped, and signed to be burned.
Watch Video Of Damien Hirst burning 1,000 artworks worth 10 Million Dollars
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