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Burger King Goes for the Gold by Mounting a Hirst
Tiffany Jow

How to squash your Olympics-sponsoring competition amidst the hype of the games? Bring in a Damien Hirst painting, of course. That’s exactly what Burger King franchisee Django Fung did last week at his new two-hundred-seat Flameship restaurant (get it?) in Leicester Square. The title of the 2003 work, Beautiful Psychedelic Gherkin Exploding Tomato Sauce All Over Your Face, Flame Grilled Painting, conveniently echoes the Whopper-maker’s famed flame-grill burger-cooking method, which is showcased in the restaurant’s new redesign. Hirst donated the painting, made by paint-splattering and spinning a canvas six-and-a-half-feet in diameter, at no cost to Fung, who is a personal friend. If anything, the partnership stands as a faster and cheaper alternative to The Tramshed.