Artist Damien Hirst will burn thousands of his paintings during a performance

Artist Damien Hirst will burn thousands of his paintings in his own gallery in London.

The Guardian writes about it.

In 2016, the artist began a series of 10,000 unique dot paintings in oil on paper. Each of these canvases has its own name. Last year, Hirst introduced the NFT project The Currency, in which he linked paintings with corresponding NFTs and sold them for $2,000 each.

Now buyers of these works have been asked to decide whether they want to own a digital copy or exchange it for the original painting.

According to art marketplace Heni, 4,180 people have decided to exchange digital paintings for real ones, while 5,820 have decided to keep their NFTs.

Damien Hirst will burn the actual canvases that will remain in the gallery every day starting September 9. Details of the performance have not yet been disclosed.

• Damien Hirst is a representative of the Young British Artists art group. In 2020, he became the richest artist in Great Britain — his fortune exceeds £315 million.