In December, Private Eye reported that Damien Hirst had confiscated works by teenage collage/graffiti artist Cartrain (above), claiming copyright infringement over the latter’s use of the diamond-encrusted skull from Hirst’s “For The Love Of God”. It’s a curious claim given prior charges Hirst himself was accused of lifting the skull idea from John LeKay, and with so much ill-will floating around, it should come as no surprise that a number of artists have come to Cartrain’s defense. From Red Rag To A Bull.com :
It has come to our attention that some artist named Damien Hirst has allegedly been picking on one of our treasured Street Urchins who used a bit of art in one of his collages.
Thanks to Red Rag To A Bull and a small group of highly trained artists you can now save this Street Urchin from certain death and help him get back the 200 quid that this Hirst allegedly nicked off him.
All of the works below are for sale and once TWENTY MILLION POUNDS has been raised ALL the proceeds will go to make an exact copy of a sculpture known as “For the Love of God”. This will then be sold for FIFTY MILLION POUNDS and the THIRTY MILLION POUND profit will then be used to repay the Street Urchin his 200 quid, help other Street Urchins and also feed starving children in Africa and Sussex.