The Beautiful Paintings: Damien Hirst and his latest NFT project

According to the Sunday Times, Damien Hirst, aged 57, is presently the world's wealthiest living artist. Hirst is an entrepreneur, collector, and a leading member of the Young British Artists group, which has dominated the UK art market for over three decades. His works frequently explore the themes of death and mortality. For instance, his Natural History series features installations of deceased animals, including sharks, sheep, and cows, suspended in formaldehyde, and has stirred up controversy. 

However, the concept behind Hirst's recent NFT collection, dubbed 'The Beautiful Paintings,' is not quite as eccentric. He drew inspiration from his Spin Paintings from the 1990s. While creating this physical series, the British artist sat on a ladder and dripped paint onto rotating canvases.

The NFT sequel to Spin Paintings was developed in partnership with the HENI platform. As per Hirst's vision, the future owners of The Beautiful Paintings NFTs will become literal co-authors of the artist's works. The HENI tool panel enables users to choose from up to 12 colors, a circular or square canvas, two and a half dozen rotation styles, as well as the degree of image blurring. Furthermore, users have the option to make the painting creation process randomized, with the guarantee that the outcome will still be aesthetically pleasing.

One interesting fact is that the HENI color palette was created by an artificial intelligence, with indigo blue being named "blueberry brulee", purple associated with "ego", and green linked to "man on a hill". The AI also generates names for NFTs, adding adjectives to "beautiful" and "painting", resulting in unconventional phrases like "Beautiful Very Undigested Painting".

Once 'The Beautiful Paintings' NFT is ready, the owner receives their "gem" in digital and/or physical form. An Ethereum blockchain-issued NFT starts at $2,000. Should a collector want to acquire the painting, they can choose the canvas size, ranging from 24 cm to 1 meter in diameter, and pay between $1,500 to $6,000. Each physical painting bears Hirst's signature.