The Beautiful Paintings
HENI is delighted to present The Beautiful Paintings, the revolutionary new artwork from Damien Hirst that blurs the boundaries between digital and physical art creation using generative and machine learning algorithms. Marking the newest iteration of Hirst’s iconic ‘Spin Paintings’, known for their energetic splashes of colour, The Beautiful Paintings gives collectors the opportunity to choose their own combination of colours, styles, shapes, sizes, and mediums to generate unique artworks and titles.
Collectors have the option to generate the artwork either as a physical artwork, digital artwork (NFT), or both. The physical artworks are printed on canvas and are available in two shapes and four sizes. Each artwork in the series is unique and the physical artworks will be hand-signed with a paint pen on the front by Damien Hirst.
The Beautiful Paintings are available for a limited time only, from 31 March to 10 April at 23:59 PST.
Damien Hirst
Damien Hirst is a British artist whose name has become synonymous with contemporary art. Since his generative work as a student at Goldsmiths School of Art, Hirst's production has been boundary−redefining in nature. Working primarily in installation, painting, sculpture and drawing, Hirst explores the complex relationships between art, beauty, religion, science, life and death. He constantly returns to his foundational interests and themes, which he reworks to develop an innovative visual language.
Spin Painting History
Tracing its roots back to 1992, ‘Spin Paintings’ was Hirst’s reaction to Abstract Expressionism and his desire to devise a machine to make art, based on his idea that one could mechanically create ‘a clinical system’ to produce ‘art without angst’. Rather than creating a composition directly through his brush, Hirst began pouring pigments onto his canvases as they spun, allowing the machine to facilitate chance movements and colour interactions.
Over the past 30 years, Hirst has continued to return to the spin format, sometimes even inviting other people such as David Bowie to his studio to create a ‘Spin Painting’ together. He has used various shapes, sizes and techniques to build on this body of work, with The Beautiful Paintings being the latest iteration. Generative and machine learning algorithms replace Hirst’s mechanical tools but preserve the series’ long-standing aesthetic of chance and randomness.
Configure Your Own
Using The Beautiful Paintings dashboard, Hirst gives collectors the opportunity to choose their own combination of colours, styles, shapes, sizes, and mediums to generate artworks and titles. Although collectors can select these variables, the final output always has an element of randomness, just as in past ‘Spin Paintings’. Each artwork in this series will be unique.
Collectors can choose from countless combinations of colours to create their own palette. The expressive colour names themselves were generated using machine learning, including names like Himalayan Waters, Interdimensional Cloud and Tangerine Pine.
The Beautiful Paintings dashboard features 25 different artwork styles to choose from. The wide variety of styles shows the unexpected movements, paint splatters, and colour interactions of his traditional ‘Spin Paintings’, but also explores new directions that build on his previous body of work.
1. Nimbuses
Styles
1. Nimbuses
The optional ‘Blur’ functionality can be applied in combination with any style to emphasise the motion of different paint splashes radiating out from the centre of the canvas as it spins.
Collectors can also select the canvas shape of their generated artwork. Works can be produced in a square or circular format, two of the most common shapes already used by Hirst in his ‘Spin Paintings’ series, each of which are available in four different sizes.
Finally, machine learning is used to create playfully long and descriptive titles, which follow the existing naming convention for ‘Spin Paintings’. The titles start with the word ‘Beautiful’, end in ‘Painting’ and reference the chosen style of ‘Spin Painting’. Collectors can choose to regenerate a new title for the same artwork.
Generative Algorithm & Machine Learning
The Generative Algorithm
Damien Hirst has been working closely with the HENI data science team for over a year to create a generative algorithm that digitally constructs artworks in 25 unique styles, developing and pushing the boundaries of what normal 'Spin Paintings' look like. The algorithm is written in p5.js, a JavaScript library, and is stored on-chain. A variety of techniques including WEBGL shaders, Perlin noise and trigonometric functions are used to create paint layers that mirror the defined yet unpredictable motion of paint as it moves across a canvas.
Titles
To create the artwork titles, a modern transformer neural network model was trained on data that was curated from a dependency parser that interprets objects and forms description pairs derived from a large textual data input set. The model allows for a never-ending variety of new and unseen titles that follow the format of Hirst's existing 'Spin Paintings'.
Colour Names
The expressive colour names that collectors can choose from in The Beautiful Paintings generator were created using machine learning models. A GPT model was fine-tuned using over 30,000 names in two colour spaces (CIELAB and RGB).
Upscaling Algorithm
Before being printed as physical artworks, the generated artworks are upscaled to a resolution of 16K using a machine learning algorithm. A generative adversarial network was fine-tuned on a historical catalogue of more than 2,000 of Damien Hirst’s ‘Spin Paintings’ to upscale the artwork to a resolution of 16K, allowing the artwork to maintain intricate details and structure at a larger size.
Format
In a radical move to expand the limits of digital and physical art creation, The Beautiful Paintings collectors have the option to purchase an artwork either as a physical artwork, a digital artwork (NFT), or both.
The physical artworks are Giclée prints on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on birch plywood stretchers. Each artwork is hand-signed in paint pen by Damien Hirst on the front. The physical artworks are available in two shapes and four sizes. The sizes of the circle canvas are: 23, 40, 70, and 100 cm in diameter. The square canvas is also available in the following sizes on each edge: 23, 40, 70 and 100 cm.
Collectors can choose to purchase The Beautiful Paintings as a digital artwork (NFT) available in either circle or square format. The Beautiful Paintings NFTs are minted on the Ethereum blockchain and adhere to the ERC-721 standard.
Small
Size:
23 cm (diameter)
Artist:
Damien Hirst
Details:
Hand-signed on the front
Medium:
Giclée print on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on a birch plywood stretcher
X-Large
Size:
100 cm (diameter)
Artist:
Damien Hirst
Details:
Hand-signed on the front
Medium:
Giclée print on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on a birch plywood stretcher
Medium
Size:
40 cm (diameter)
Artist:
Damien Hirst
Details:
Hand-signed on the front
Medium:
Giclée print on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on a birch plywood stretcher
Large
Size:
70 cm (diameter)
Artist:
Damien Hirst
Details:
Hand-signed on the front
Medium:
Giclée print on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on a birch plywood stretcher
Canvas shape:
Size:
23 cm (diameter)
Artist:
Damien Hirst
Details:
Hand-signed on the front
Medium:
Giclée print on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on a birch plywood stretcher
Visit HENI Gallery
Some examples of The Beautiful Paintings are on display at the HENI Gallery. Admission to the gallery is free, with no appointment required.
HENI Gallery 6-10 Lexington St, London W1F 0LB, United Kingdom Open seven days a week, from 10am - 6pm GMT.
Timeline
The Beautiful Paintings prints and NFTs are available for a limited time only. You can go to the Generator page, and when you are happy with the Spin you have generated, you can click on 'Add to Cart' and then proceed to the checkout from the cart. You can add multiple artworks to your cart. During the checkout you can choose whether you would like to purchase the physical artwork, digital artwork (NFT) or both. If you have any questions, please see the below FAQs or contact customer care.
DROP OPENS
The Beautiful Paintings are available for only eleven days, from 31 March to 10 April at 23:59 PST.
PRODUCTION
After the purchase window has ended, we will start production of the physical artworks. Each work will be printed and mounted, hand-signed by the artist on the front, and carefully packaged for shipment.
Digital artworks (NFTs) will be minted and distributed approximately 1 week after the end of the drop period.
SHIPPING
Due to the manual process of stretching canvases, and the uncertainty over the number of orders, we estimate that all physical artwork orders will be dispatched within 6 months of the close of the purchase window, but we will endeavour to complete all orders as soon as possible.
FAQ
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS
If you have any questions, you can explore our FAQs here. If you want to get in touch, please contact customer care or ask a moderator on Discord.
HENI is delighted to present The Beautiful Paintings, the revolutionary new artwork from Damien Hirst that blurs the boundaries between digital and physical art creation using generative and machine learning algorithms.
Marking the newest iteration of Hirst’s iconic ‘Spin Paintings’ series, known for their energetic splashes of colour, this work invites collectors to take part in the process of generating their own ‘Spin Paintings’ using a digital platform.
Collectors have the option to generate the artwork either as a physical print, digital artwork (NFT), or both. The physical artworks are printed on canvas and are available in two shapes (square or circular) and four sizes. Each artwork in the series is unique, and the physical artworks will be hand-signed with a paint pen on the front by Damien Hirst.
The Beautiful Paintings are available for purchase for a limited time only, from Thursday, 31 March to Monday, 10 April (23:59 PST closing time).
We offer several payment options for purchasing The Beautiful Paintings, including debit or credit cards and certain cryptocurrencies.
The Beautiful Paintings are available in several mediums and sizes. Please find the options and prices below.
Physical Artworks
The Beautiful Paintings physical artworks are Giclée prints on poly-cotton artist canvas mounted on a birch plywood stretcher and are available in two shapes and four sizes:
Round
Small (23 cm diameter), Medium (40 cm diameter), Large (70 cm diameter) & Extra-large (100 cm diameter).
Square
Small (23 x 23 cm), Medium (40 x 40 cm), Large (70 x 70 cm) & Extra-large (100 x 100 cm).
HENI editions come ready to hang on the wall and do not require framing. The works are fitted with a sub-frame on the reverse, from which they can be hung. You may choose to frame the work, but this is down to personal choice.
Digital Artworks (NFTs)
The Beautiful Paintings digital artworks (NFTs) adhere to the ERC-721 standard on the Ethereum blockchain.
Yes, The Beautiful Paintings editions can be shipped internationally. Please note that the prints are shipped from the UK. Unless otherwise stated, the shipping costs charged by HENI do not include any local taxes, import and customs duties that may be payable by you depending on where your artworks are shipped. You will be contacted by your local customs or shipping regarding paying VAT and any applicable duties.
There are certain countries that we cannot ship to. If you encounter an error during the checkout, or if you would like more information, please contact Customer Care.
HENI estimates that all physical artworks will be dispatched within six months of the close of the purchase window. This is slightly longer than our usual estimations due to the manual nature of stretching canvases and the uncertainty about the number of orders. However, we will endeavour to complete all orders as soon as possible. Timing is dependent on demand, any potential COVID-19 restrictions, and delays. Customers will be contacted with a tracking number before their work is shipped.
Digital artworks (NFTs) are expected to be minted approximately one week after the end of the drop period.
The edition sizes for The Beautiful Paintings will be limited by time and by demand. The number of editions and NFTs ordered in the purchase window will determine the final size for each artwork type.
The overall HENI Editions series code is H12, but there will be eight subseries within this (H12-1 to H12-8) for each of the different combinations of shape and size (small circle, small square, medium circle, medium square, large circle, large square, x-large circle & x-large square). The edition size of each of these subseries will be recorded individually.
The digital artworks (NFTs) will not have subseries – there is one NFT collection which includes both square and circular artworks.