Damien Hirst Called Out For Mislabeling At Least 1,000 Artworks

Photo 51451959 © Markwaters | Dreamstime.com

Damien Hirst’s team might be spinning right now—but for an unexpected reason. The British artist is facing questions about the authenticity of dates attributed to a significant portion of his The Currency series.

Launched in 2016, the selection aimed to create a unique form of money from art. Each of the 10,000 spot paintings bore his signature colorful dots and featured a microdot for authenticity. These were accompanied by optional non-fungible tokens (NFTs) providing buyers with a permanent digital record on the blockchain. 

Hirst hailed The Currency as his most exciting project, noting the fusion of traditional art and cutting-edge technology. The project generated an estimated US$18 million in sales, but recent revelations have cast a shadow over its success.

The spiraling begins with allegations that Hirst misdated a significant portion of the series. Even though the pieces were initially presented as “created by hand in 2016” when they were sold in 2021, five sources close to the artist’s production company, Science Ltd., have confided in the Guardian that many were actually mass-produced in 2018 and 2019.

At least 1,000—and possibly several hundred—Currency paintings were made in the years following 2016, they added.

The episode reignites questions about Hirst’s practices following a rather recent investigation in which some of his famous formaldehyde sculptures—dated to the 1990s—were allegedly found to have been created in 2017.

Hirst’s team has defended the dating practice, claiming it’s customary to date paintings with the year of the project’s inception rather than the individual creation date. It argues that the project began in 2016, aligning with the inscribed year.

This approach, however, has sparked debate among art enthusiasts and collectors. The reported discrepancy raises concerns about the value and legitimacy of the series, especially considering the art market’s reliance on documented creation dates for pricing. 

[via The Guardian and Euronews, cover photo 51451959 © Markwaters | Dreamstime.com]