Damien Hirst accused of backdating Artworks

Three formaldehyde works by Damien Hirst dated to the 1990s were actually created in 2017, The Guardian reports. Respectively featuring a dove captured mid-flight, a trisected shark, and a pair of calves, the trio of sculptures—Dove, 1999; Myth Explored, Explained, Exploded, 1993–99; and Cain and Abel, 1994—made their public debut at Gagosian Hong Kong in a 2017 exhibition of the artist’s works “from the early to mid-1990s.” The fact that none of the sculptures had ever been seen before aroused suspicion, and The Guardian launched an investigation, which culminated in the discovery that the works had been made by Hirst’s staff in Dudbridge, England, in 2017.

Hirst’s company, Science Ltd, responded, “Formaldehyde works are conceptual artworks and the date Damien Hirst assigns to them is the date of the conception of the work. He has been clear over the years when asked what is important in conceptual art; it is not the physical making of the object or the renewal of its parts, but rather the intention and the idea behind the artwork.”

Hirst’s lawyers further defended the artist, asserting that “the dating of artworks, and particularly conceptual artworks, is not controlled by any industry standard,” and further noting that “artists are perfectly entitled to be (and often are) inconsistent in their dating of works.” Gagosian, too, disputed the suggestion that the discrepancy was misleading “on the same grounds laid out in the responses from Science (UK) Ltd.”

Main Image :Damien Hirst, Cain And Abel, Prudence Cumming/Gagosian/PA