From formaldehyde-immersed sharks to diamond-encrusted skulls,
Damien Hirst has become used to taking flak from traditionalists.
Less
than welcome have been the accusations of plagiarism, the latest of
which were detailed today with claims that no fewer than 15 works
produced over the years by the self-styled enfant terrible have been
allegedly "inspired" by others.
While Hirst has previously faced
accusations that works including his diamond skull came from the
imagination of other artists, the new allegations include his "crucified
sheep", medicine cabinets, spin paintings, spot paintings, installation
of a ball on an air-jet, his anatomical figure and cancer cell images.
Charles
Thomson, the artist and co-founder of the Stuckists, a group
campaigning for traditional artistry, collated the number of plagiarism
claims relating to Hirst's work for the latest issue of the Jackdaw art
magazine.
He came up with 15 examples, with eight said to be new
instances of plagiarism. The tally includes the medicine cabinets that
Hirst first displayed in 1989, and its development in 1992 - a room-size
installation called Pharmacy.
"Joseph Cornell displayed a cabinet
with bottles on shelves called Pharmacy in 1943," said Thomson. Nor
were Hirst's spin paintings or his installation of a ball on a jet of
air original, he said, noting that both were done in the 1960s.
"Hirst
puts himself forward as a great artist, but a lot of his work exists
only because other artists have come up with original ideas which he has
stolen," said Thomson. "Hirst is a plagiarist in a way that would be
totally unacceptable in science or literature."
Aggrieved artists
include John LeKay, a Briton who says he first thought of nailing a
lamb's carcass to wood like a cross in 1987, only to see it reproduced
by Hirst. Lekay previously claimed in 2007 that he had been producing
jewel-encrusted skulls since 1993, before Hirst did so. Lori Precious,
an American, says she first arranged butterfly wings into patterns to
suggest stained-glass windows in 1994, years before Hirst.
Imitation
may be flattery, but not when Hirst is taking both the financial and
artistic credit for their ideas, say Lekay and Precious. LeKay has never
sold anything above £3,500, while Hirst's set of three crucified sheep
was a reported £5.7m. Precious's butterflies sold for £6,000 against
Hirst's version for £4.7m.
While Hirst is one of Britain's richest
men, LeKay cannot live off his art. Accusing Hirst of being dishonest
about where he gets his ideas, he said: "He should just tell the truth."
Although
LeKay recognises that artists have always found inspiration in each
other, he says the great ones adapt ideas to create works with their own
individual and original stamp.
He said: "Damien sees an idea,
tweaks it a little bit, tries to make it more commercial. He's not like
an artist inspired by looking inwards. He looks for ideas from other
people. It's superficial. Put both [crucified sheep] together and … it's
the same thing."
In the 1990s, they were friends and shared
exhibitions, which is when Hirst may have seen his sheep. Since then,
LeKay has become more interested in Buddhism than material wealth, so he
does not plan to seek compensation.
Precious recalled her pain at
seeing Hirst's butterflies in a newspaper: "My artist friends and
collectors called to tell me they couldn't believe the similarities
between Hirst's work and mine, and … at first I too thought it was my
work."
Although the patterns are not identical, she said: "It's
the same material (butterfly wings) and the same idea (recreations of
stained-glass windows)."
Without the funds to pursue legal action, she no longer produces butterfly works.
It
emerged in 2000 that Hirst agreed to pay an undisclosed sum to head off
legal action for breach of copyright by the designer and makers of a
£14.99 toy which bore a resemblance to his celebrated 20ft bronze
sculpture, Hymn.
David Lee, the editor of the Jackdaw, says
Hirst's compensation was an admission of guilt. "The fact he was willing
to fork out the money is an indication that he knew he was plagiarising
the guy's work."
Hirst declined to comment.
