Damien Hirst faces new plagiarism claims

06 September '10 by the editors

Damien Hirst faces new plagiarism allegations after an art magazine published an article accusing the popular artist of producing 15 works "inspired by others".

Hirst has previously faced allegations that works, including his diamond skull, were the ideas of others.

In 2000 it was disclosed that Hirst had paid an undisclosed sum to prevent legal action for breach of copyright by designers of a toy which resembled his famous bronze sculpture, Hymn.

In the latest edition of Jackdaw magazine, Charles Thomson, an artist and co-founder of Stuckists, a group which campaigns against conceptual art, tallied the number of plagiarism claims relating to Hirst's work.

Mr Thomson came up with 15 cases, eight of which he claimed were new, including Hirst's work 'Pharmacy'.

He said: "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.

"Hirst is a plagiarist in a way that would be totally unacceptable in science or literature."

Hirst has always denied allegations of plagiarism but has not commented on the latest claims.

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