THE AUCTION HOUSE
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BETTING BIG ON HIRST
As the bidding started at Damien Hirst's historic auction in London on Sept.15 (Sotheby's first ever of a single living artist), the specter of failing financial markets hardly discouraged
collectors; Hirst's formaldehyde-preserved animals and diamond-encrusted butterflies netted a staggering $200.7 million, breaking the house's record for a single-artist auction (set in 1993 when a Piccaso sale raised $32 million), and making Hirst seem like a better bet than the FTSE.
The event broke with artistic convention, as Hirst and his manager by passed their usual dealers, the Gagosian Gallery and New York and the White Cube in London (a gallery's cut for a major artist can run up to 50 percent). The gamble paid off, which is likely to have masive implications for the way art is bought and sold. While some gallery owners say they'll always have their place in the market, others fear that giants like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami could follow Hirst's lead.
But is Hirst's work really recessionproof-especially given the susceptibility of his pieces to
decomposition? "This sale has proved that Hirst's a safe return", says art-market expert Godfrey Barker. "The superrich need somewhere to put their money, and they're pouring it into art. We are enterin a world where art is trusted above real estate and General Motors." Along those lines, Hirst plans to invest his new millions in modern masters like Francis Bacon-though it might not hurt to hang on to a few of his own commodity-encrusted creations,too.
SOPHIE GROVE ----------------------------
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BETTING BIG ON HIRST
As the bidding started at Damien Hirst's historic auction in London on Sept.15 (Sotheby's first ever of a single living artist), the specter of failing financial markets hardly discouraged
collectors; Hirst's formaldehyde-preserved animals and diamond-encrusted butterflies netted a staggering $200.7 million, breaking the house's record for a single-artist auction (set in 1993 when a Piccaso sale raised $32 million), and making Hirst seem like a better bet than the FTSE.
The event broke with artistic convention, as Hirst and his manager by passed their usual dealers, the Gagosian Gallery and New York and the White Cube in London (a gallery's cut for a major artist can run up to 50 percent). The gamble paid off, which is likely to have masive implications for the way art is bought and sold. While some gallery owners say they'll always have their place in the market, others fear that giants like Jeff Koons and Takashi Murakami could follow Hirst's lead.
But is Hirst's work really recessionproof-especially given the susceptibility of his pieces todecomposition? "This sale has proved that Hirst's a safe return", says art-market expert Godfrey Barker. "The superrich need somewhere to put their money, and they're pouring it into art. We are enterin a world where art is trusted above real estate and General Motors." Along those lines, Hirst plans to invest his new millions in modern masters like Francis Bacon-though it might not hurt to hang on to a few of his own commodity-encrusted creations,too.
SOPHIE GROVE ----------------------------
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