Acclaimed British artist Damien Hirst is the ultimate provocateur, whose work has boldly explored themes of death, religion, science, art, beauty, and life for decades, and now he is showing himself in the digital innovations of the NFT space.
Hirst is both an artist and an art collector, and maintains close ties with many prominent collectors, such as businessman Charles Saatchi. His best-known works in the traditional art world are his sculptures of animal carcasses preserved in formaldehyde, which also earned him a place in the "Young British Artists" (YBA) group, a group of British artists who rose to prominence in the late 1980s.
Since then, Hirst's artistic achievements and accolades have been steady as he has expanded his artistic scope into more sculptures, paintings, and, as of 2021, digital art.
In 2021, Hirst brought his paintings into the NFT world with his genesis series "The Currency," a digital rendering of Hirst's famous "Spots Paintings" series, in which he asked holders to decide whether they valued a physical work or a digital artwork more.
In the same year, he also designed the cover for rapper Drake's album (Certified Lover Boy), which inspired another NFT series, "Great Expectations." In this series of 10,000 works, Hirst used the iconic dots of "Currency" to depict pregnant women and explore aspects of their beauty and personality.
Since the beginning of his career, Hirst has had the unique ability to string together the thematic threads of all his works, making each piece and each series appear seamless, even if they appear strikingly different when viewed in isolation.
Read on to learn more about Damien Hirst's digital art collections and how they connect to his earlier, more traditional works and themes.
Early life and training
Hirst was born Damien Steven Brennan on June 7, 1965 in Bristol, England. His early life and training are somewhat mysterious, but the known information paints a picture of a young man deeply influenced by the punk movement and the visceral art of Irish painter Francis Bacon.
Hirst attended Goldsmiths, University of London, where he studied fine art. Although he did not complete his degree, his talent was evident early on, and he was recognized and nurtured by his art teachers, who encouraged him to pursue an art career. This encouragement laid the foundation for Hirst's future endeavors in the art world.
Rising to fame
Hirst's rise to fame began in the late 1980s, as a central member of the YBAs, a group that included such notable figures as installation artist Tracey Emin and photographer Sarah Lucas. This group dominated the British art scene in the 1990s, pushing boundaries and challenging traditional art norms.
Hirst's first major breakthrough came in 1988 when he personally curated the exhibition "Freeze" held in a warehouse district in London's docklands, which was so successful that it attracted the attention of collectors and critics. In 1991, Hirst participated in the Saatchi Gallery's YBAs exhibition, further solidifying his position as a leading figure in contemporary art and marking the beginning of his lasting influence on the art world.
Artistic style and themes
Hirst's artistic style is distinctive, characterized by his obsession with life and death. His works often feature vibrant colors and bold patterns, visually attracting viewers while confronting them with the deep themes of mortality and human existence.
His early use of formaldehyde to encase animal corpses sparked controversy, but also allowed him to juxtapose the timeless (or at least preserved) with the inanimate.
Notable works
Hirst shot to fame with this stunning shark piece, titled (The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living), created in 1991, which is a 14-foot tiger shark preserved and suspended in a rectangular container made of formaldehyde.
British businessman Charles Saatchi funded the work, and it reportedly cost Hirst around £50,000 to create, selling for between $8 million and $12 million. The original shark eventually dissolved and had to be replaced in 2006.
Hirst then created (For the Love of God), a diamond-encrusted platinum skull, and his installations, such as (A Thousand Years) featuring fly traps and bull's heads, continued to push the boundaries of artistic expression, followed by (Golden Calf), Hirst wrapped a golden calf in gold, once again blending shocking value with profound artistic expression.
Hirst's first NFT collection was an experiment for holders
Hirst's "The Currency" is a collection of 10,000 NFTs that has gradually decreased in supply since it was minted in 2021. The current supply of NFTs is just over 2,000 (as of this writing) because holders had one year after owning an NFT to decide whether to keep the digital or physical version of the work.
As Hirst explained, he hoped to spark a discussion about which art is more valuable through his social experiment.
When the deadline arrived, about half of the holders decided to burn the NFTs in exchange for physical artworks, while the other half of the holders chose to keep their NFTs while Hirst burned all the accompanying physical artworks.
Hirst, like his art collectors, is also involved, as he owns 1000 NFTs, and he explained that the decision of which NFTs to keep depends on whether he is ready to jump into the NFT art world.
Hirst added in a Twitter post:
"I've been in the physical art world for so long, I expected people to have their own agendas and bullshit, I've seen a lot of bullshit, and I was surprised how supportive this community is and seems to care about it, so in the end I decided to keep all my 1000 currencies as NFTs...otherwise it wouldn't have been a real adventure for me, so I decided I needed to show my 100% support and confidence in the NFT world (even if it meant I had to destroy the corresponding 1000 physical artworks)..."
His confidence in the contemporary art NFT world has inspired him to launch more collections
One month after Hirst minted "The Currency," the series generated $25 million in sales. Building on the success of his first series, Hirst quickly launched other NFT series, including "Great Expectations," a free airdrop for "Currency" holders.
According to HENI, the art technology company that collaborated with Hirst to create these two series, this series, inspired by Drake's album, uses the colored dots from (The Currency) to create an emoji-like grid of pregnant women. Hirst designed the visual style of these digital artworks in the same way he designed the cover of Drake's album.
In 2022, Hirst launched the butterfly-inspired NFT series "The Empresses," emphasizing the beauty and power of butterflies and naming each piece after a remarkable woman for whom he named each work. Each butterfly in the series is an Empress butterfly, with patterns of red, orange, and black adorning sparkling, kaleidoscopic prints.
Hirst named each print in the series after five queens who inspired him, including Empress Wu Zetian of China, Empress Theodora of the Byzantine Empire, Empress Nur Jahan of the Mughal Empire, Empress Suiko of Japan, and Empress Taytu Betul of Ethiopia.
As described in (HENI), only one of the five prints has a slightly asymmetrical pattern, which Hirst created deliberately to celebrate the pioneering feminist policies of Theodora of the Byzantine Empire.
Since 2024, Damien Hirst has focused on his latest art exhibition, "Dominion," curated by Hirst's son, Connor Hirst, featuring works by Hirst himself and other artists. The exhibition is held at Hirst's Newport Street Gallery in London.
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