UK’s Living Richest Artist Damien Hirst to Burn His Paintings in NFT Project

Damien Hirst, reportedly the wealthiest living artist in the United Kingdom, will burn thousands of his paintings next month as part of a non-fungible token (NFT) project called The Currency. Damien Hirst To Set His Paintings On Fire For NFT Project At the beginning of September, the destruction of the artworks will take place during an exhibition, also titled “The Currency,” at Newport Street Gallery in London. A month later, the gallery will stage a closing event to burn the remaining artworks, with Hirst in attendance. “Artworks will be burnt at a specified time each day during the run of the show. These timings will be publicized in advance,” read a statement from the artist. The Currency The year is over boom 💥 that was quick! and we have all had to decide: NFT or physical? The final numbers are: 5,149 physicals and 4,851 NFTs (meaning I will have to burn 4,851 corresponding physical Tenders). pic.twitter.com/xCUJ0gviZ0 — Damien Hirst (@hirst_official) July 27, 2022 Hirst first made the physical artworks of 10,000 oil paintings depicting unique dots in 2016 and linked them to NFTs in 2021. Buyers of the NFTs worth $2,000 were given the option to keep the token or trade it for the physical painting. The original artwork will now be burnt for those who chose to keep the NFT version. With a deadline set on July 27, 4,851 wanted their paintings to be burned for digital edition NFTs, while 5,149 collectors opted to trade thei...