Hirst accused of copying artist's work

British artist, Damien Hirst, has been accused of plagiarising another artist’s work – six years after it was alleged that he copied a £14.99 (€22.35) plastic toy.

Computer graphics artist Robert Dixon, 59, claims that Hirst’s piece Valium, which was made six years ago, bears a vivid resemblance to his drawing True Daisy.

He says he has contacted the Turner Prize-winner to demand financial compensation and acknowledgement of his contribution to the work.

While Hirst’s work is in colour, Dixon claims that both pieces contain exactly the same number of spots and that their patterns are identical.

Hirst and his dealer, the White Cube gallery, were not commenting today.

Dixon, whose True Daisy pattern was published in the Penguin Dictionary of Curious and Interesting Geometry in 1991, wrote to Hirst: “Your drawing is not merely the same pattern, but is made by copying my drawing. Your artwork is practically dependent on my artwork.

“I conceived, calculated, formulated and programmed the Penguin drawing. You did not. You copied an arrangement of ink from a page.”

He also claimed three years ago that another circular pattern that Hirst produced for a children’s colouring book was “virtually identical” to True Daisy.

Hirst faced legal action six years ago after an accusation that his £1m (€1.47m) sculpture, Hymn, a 20ft bronze of a torso which he sold to Charles Saatchi, was reproduced from a plastic toy.

The artist agreed to make donations to two children’s charities and a “goodwill payment” to the original designer.

Hirst has also been on the other side of a copyright row – he threatened to sue British Airways over advertisements using coloured dots for its low-cost airline, Go, which he claimed had copied one of his spot paintings.