Damien Hirst is the United Kingdom’s richest living visual artist, with an estimated net worth of $384 million. Hirst became famous in the nineties for his participation in many exhibitions, and he was dubbed a “pioneer of the British art movement” by the U.K.’s heritage secretary.
In 1992, Hirst was nominated for the annual Turner Prize for his work titled “The Physical Impossibilities of Death in the Mind of Someone Living,” which features a dead tiger shark displayed in formaldehyde. In 1995, the artist won the Turner Prize for his work “Mother and Child Divided,” which features an adult and a young cow both split in the middle and frozen in formaldehyde. Both artworks received their fair share of criticism for their controversial themes. The British artist set a sales record for a single-artist auction in 2008, surpassing a previous auction for works by Pablo Picasso. His auction “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever” was carried out through Sotheby’s, raising $198 million.
In 2021, the artist revealed that he is a believer in nonfungible tokens. In support of NFTs, Hirst said that it’s possible galleries will disappear before NFTs. The artist also released several NFT collections such as “The Currency” and “Great Expectations.”
Hirst first entered the NFT space in 2021. In collaboration with art company Heni, Hirst dropped 10,000 pieces called “Tenders” within an NFT collection titled “The Currency.” The NFTs feature front and back images of 10,000 unique physical artworks by Hirst and were sold on OpenSea.
The physical artworks were created back in 2016 to explore “the boundaries of art and currency.” The people who applied to purchase the collection were given the choice to receive either an NFT or a physical copy, with the unselected version being burned. On Aug. 15, The Currency became No. 1 in the NFT rankings on OpenSea. With a floor price of nearly $50,000, the project was estimated to have a market value of $500 million at the time.
In November, Hirst dropped another collection called “Great Expectations.” It was based on the cover art that Hirst created for musician Drake’s 2021 album Certified Lover Boy. It was a Thanksgiving gift that was given to holders of The Currency NFTs. Hirst explained that the drop was to “share and feel the excitement” that he has over NFTs. However, while the NFTs were given away for free, that didn’t stop holders from listing and selling pieces of the work on OpenSea.
Hirst started the year by reimagining 12 of Eminem’s album artworks. The artist did not receive any commission for the work; rather, the profit will be donated to the Iovine and Young Foundation, which is building a new school in South Los Angeles.
Hirst also announced that he will be dropping a new collection called “The Empress” in February that will feature five new artworks named after five female rulers. The artist will sell the works through Heni with the option to purchase the physical prints directly or purchase a Heni Editions NFT Deed that lets the holder claim the physical print at a later date. Ultimately, Hirst is expected to continue with his NFT drops into 2022, bridging the gap between the traditional world of art and the digital ecosystem.
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