'Artist' Kills Butterflies for His 'Art,' Is Happy Someone's Paying Attention to Him

Damien Hirst, big baby and caricature of a provocative artist (stop trying to get it! you don’t get it!), is in deep doo-doo with the RSPCA for butterfly abuse. And he wouldn’t have it other way.

Earlier this year, London’s Tate Modern hosted Hirst’s “In and Out of Love” exhibition. Giant human visitors were able to walk through two windowless rooms jammed with thousands of butterflies. Of course, this left to lots of accidental butterfly trampling and crushing. It’s all just a giant metaphor for love, get it? And love hurts — according to the Telegraph, 9,000 butterflies died during the 23-week exhibition.

The exhibit used butterflies of the Owl and Heliconius species, which come from tropical regions and live for up to nine months in the wild. Those used in the exhibition are believed to have survived for between a few hours and several days.

How sad! The museum defended the exhibit saying that the environment was high-quality. Which makes sense because a windowless room is a very desirable place to spend your three days on Earth. And since I’m no bug expert, I’m can’t say for sure that butterflies don’t enjoy having their bodies ripped apart by giant flesh beasts. There’s just no way to know anything for sure I guess, so everyone should just do whatever the fuck they want, consequences be damned. SAN DIMAS HIGH SCHOOL FOOTBALL RULES.

Damien Hirst condemned for killing 9,000 butterflies in Tate show [The Telegraph]