Unique The Currency painting.
Enamel paint on handmade paper.
With watermark, microdot and hologram.
20 x 30 cm.
2016.
Hand signed, dated and titled by Damien Hirst.
 
The Currency, launched in July 2021, is a collection of 10,000 NFTs which correspond with 10,000 original artworks by Damien Hirst. Collectors were given the choice to either keep the NFT or exchange it for the physical artwork.
Every choice made – to keep the NFT, or keep the painting – had consequences. Collectors that chose to claim a physical artwork had to burn their NFT to do so. Similarly, those who chose to keep their NFT did so knowing that the physical artwork would then be destroyed. 
 
Starting with the creation of the physical artworks in 2016, The Currency is the latest iteration of the iconic Spot Paintings series by Damien Hirst. The artwork explores the boundaries of art and currency—when art changes and becomes a currency, and when currency becomes art.
 
Damien Hirst (born 1965) rose to prominence in the late 1980s and early 1990s with his striking works of art. He was a key member of the Young British Artists, won the Turner Prize in 1995 and challenges perceptions and the limits of art. Hirst has also challenged the art market; in 2008 he held an auction with Sotheby’s and sold over 200 pieces of his work direct to the public by bypassing galleries, earning £111 million. He explores themes of life, death and religion, and has created thought provoking artworks including various animals in formaldehyde and For The Love Of God, a diamond encrusted human skull with 8,601 diamonds.