When he later exhibited at the Gagosian gallery in SoHo, fear of intervention by the Environmental Protection Agency caused Hirst to abandon plans to display his copulating cows in a tank that did not contain formaldehyde. (According to London art dealer Jay Jopling, Hirst "wanted a piece that decayed in front of your eyes.") When Hirst attempted to bring his material into the United States, the Customs Service needed to be persuaded that it was artwork, and therefore not subject to USDA regulations of foodstuffs—especially meat tainted with "mad cow disease."
One of Hirst's works, "Away from the Flock," consists of a sheep which had been saved from slaughter, only to be disemboweled and placed in formaldehyde by a contemporary artist. But when fellow artist Mark Bridger attended a preview of the exhibit, he decided that something was missing from that piece, so he poured black ink in the formaldehyde and renamed the exhibit "Black Sheep." The sheep was cleaned and the formaldehyde replaced prior to public exhibition. Mr. Bridger was conviced of vandalism and sentenced to two years of probation, though he insisted he improved the piece, and despite an interview in which Mr. Hirst said that getting spectators involved was of the utmost importance. A few years later, Mr. Hirst published an art book featuring an image of the piece. When the reader pulled a tab, the tank and sheep appeared to be covered with blackness, as if ink had been poured into the container. This led Mr. Bridger to sue for copyright infringement.
[Ed.: On October 16, 2001, Emmanuel Asare, a janitor at a London gallery, inadvertently disposed of an expensive art installation by Damien Hirst that consisted of used cups, dirty ashtrays, candy wrappers, and newspapers spread across the floor.]
