10. Damien Hirst Away From The Flock Inked
A penniless artist was given a two year conditional discharge for pouring black ink into a tank containing a dead sheep. The crime was committed by Mark Bridger, aged 35, a down-at-heel artist from Oxford, who walked into London’s Serpentine Gallery and tampered with an installation by Damien Hirst. He later claimed in court that he had turned the fluffy white lamb in a tank of formaldehyde, titled ‘Away from the Flock’, into a new work called ‘Black Sheep’. Of his art attack Bridger stated: “I was in a carpe diem frame of mind; tomorrow may not be available,” assuming Hirst would not object as they were on the same creative wavelength. Bridger denied that his act was motivated by jealousy of the artist’s success. Rather, he was inspired by the sheep’s mortality. “It’s about life and death; we are entering the territory of what life is all about.” But for the magistrate life was about finding the vandal guilty of criminal damage – but excusing Bridger from paying compensation on grounds of insufficient means – possibly the magistrate should have given him community service with a shepherd instead (I know).