Damien Hirst: “6235. I don’t have my future” (from “The Currency”)

Weng Contemporary is delighted to present 6235. I don’t have my future from The Currency, the first NFT series by Damien Hirst.

Damien Hirst’s Spot Paintings remain one of the most recognizable motifs in contemporary art, known for their perfect circles in a grid format. The works of The Currency evolved from this exploration, with the spots appearing like particles or atoms.The Currency marries one of Hirst’s most generative bodies of work to his lifelong fascination for technology and materiality.

Ever disrupting art world conventions, the artist's use of NFTs is an important development in his ongoing interest in notions of ownership and collecting. The Currency challenges the concept of value through money and art. Each of the unique 10,000 hand painted works were launched in July 2021 as NFTs on the blockchain. There is a possibility to exchange the physical work and burn its NFT correspondent until July 2022. By the end of February 2022, only 600 physical works (6 %) have been redeemed and the rest of the editions remain as NFTs.

“In the very beginning of my spot painting career I made some messy spots and I hated them, so I perfected them into perfect dots and for 25 years, I made perfect dots. At the very end, I went back to the messy dots and made two or three. I really like them! I did a little test on paper, looked at them and thought: they all look the same but they are actually unique, they are handmade. They are not a print but they look like a print. Then I thought: what if I made these and treated them like money? What if I made more than 500? What if I made 1000 or 5000? We looked at them again and realised that 5000 wasn’t enough, we have to make 10’000 in order to have enough to move around in that way." —Damien Hirst

Same as other currencies, but different

Similar to other forms of currency, anti counterfeiting measures are employed to ensure authenticity. Each work of The Currency has several measures that safeguard the authenticity, both of the physical artwork and the digital NFT. The paper is hand made and is cut manually, producing spontaneous imperfections and asymmetries. Each unique artwork is numbered, titled, stamped with the Hirst logo and signed by the artist on the back. Additional authenticity features include a watermark of Damien Hirst’s head taken from his sculpture called The Collector where the artists poses as Henry VIII, a microdot and a hologram containing a portrait of the artist.

Rarities

Using a machine learning algorithm, all of the different identifying features of each work have been analyzed and ranked out of 10,000. These features, also known as “rarities” are defined by overlaps, drips, texture, density, weight, colors , word and characters. From the amount of drips and splashes, to the texture of the paint, each artwork has a unique combination of ranked features. 6235. I don’t have my future has a weight score (amount of grams) of 22.29 ranking it 9,846 out of 10,000 and a density score of 0.65 (out of 1) ranking it at 9,038. This means that 9,846 artworks of The Currency are lighter and only 154 are heavier. Similarly, only 962 artworks in the series have more density. The thickness and texture of the paint, the amount of spots and their vicinity to each other particularly impact the rarity of this work. Dispensing the rules of the renowned spot paintings, known for their perfect circles in a grid format, Damien Hirst allowed the works of The Currency to become more organic. Free from restraint, these hand painted spots produced spontaneous imperfections and asymmetries. These irregularities can be found as small specks of paint, splashes, or trails, referred to as “drips”. 6235. I don’t have my future has a drip score of 0.45 (out of 1) ranking it 5,504 out of 10,000 offering a perfect balance between Hirst’s perfect and messy spots.

10,000 Unique Artworks

Each artwork is uniquely titled and numbered (1-10,000). The titles are generated from machine learning applied to some of the artist's favourite song lyrics. Although created in 2016, 6235. I don’t have my future resonates more than ever with viewers in 2022. Following the life uncertainties caused by the Covid 19 pandemic or perhaps more generally reflecting on moments of doubts and feelings of helplessness, this title provides another level of complexity and depth to this unique artwork.

“The Currency is an artwork, and anyone who buys it will participate in this work, it’s not just about owning it… The whole project is an experience in belief… It is the most exciting project I have ever worked on by far.” — Damien Hirst