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| | The Art | Collectors | Investors Network is not currently active and cannot accept new posts | | Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | Views: 558 | | Sep 19, 2008 10:41 am | | Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # | 
Mehul Patel | | Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million
By Stephen Adams, Arts Correspondent
Last Updated: 12:01am BST 16/09/2008
Damien Hirst has shattered the world record for an auction sale dedicated to a single artist, with his two-day Sotheby's extravaganza making more than £111 million.
The British artist confounded critics who said his sale of 223 new works would dive in the face of the economic downturn. With financial markets in turmoil, the world's rich appear happier than ever to put their cash in Hirst's formaldehyde preserved animals, spin paintings and butterfly collages.
'The Golden Calf' which sold for £10.3 million
The sale generated £111,576,800 - 10 times that of the previous record for an auction dedicated to a single artist: the £11.3 million ($20 million) raised when 88 works by Pablo Picasso were sold by Sotheby's in New York in 1993.
That figure was almost broken by the single-most expensive lot in the ground-breaking sale, the £10.3 million paid for The Golden Calf, a bull in formaldehyde adorned with horns, hooves and a disk above its head made of 18-carat gold.
Hirst himself may have seen his personal wealth increase by almost a fifth in little over 24 hours. Earlier this month Frank Dunphy, his manager, said Hirst was now worth "a billion" dollars (£561 million). Hirst has said Sotheby's charged him nothing to stage the auction - it has been rewarded handsomely through its buyer's premium - so every pound of the hammer price went to the artist.
Consequently, Hirst earned £95,712,000 from the Sotheby's sale.
Despite the overall success of the event, five items failed to sell while some lots sold for less than their pre-sale estimate. A zebra in a tank of formaldehyde - named The Incredible Journey - barely scraped half its lowest estimate. The sale price, including buyer's premium, was just over £1.1 million, nowhere near the £2-3 million estimate.
The five that failed to reach their reserve were mainly creations lacking the instantly recognisable glamour of the Hirst 'brand', such as Killing Time, a plastic box filled with a desk, office chair, pills and a watch. But on the whole demand for Hirst's work remained brisk.
A key moment in the two-day sale came early on Monday evening, when bidding for his shark in formaldehyde, called The Kingdom, stalled at £3.5 million, well below its £4-6 million pre-sale estimate.
Auctioneer Oliver Barker held off the hammer, asking two uncertain telephone bidders: "Are we going on?" Eventually they did go on, embarking on a game of ping-pong that took the price up and up. It eventually sold for £9.6 million, including the buyer's premium, the second highest price of the auction. From that point the nothing held the buyers back.
White Cube, the gallery that represents Hirst in London, publicly celebrated the artist's achievement of taking his work direct to auction - despite the implications such a move could have for galleries. A statement from the gallery read: "Once again Damien has shown he is a mould-breaker without equal and we are immensely impressed and proud of his achievement.
"It is clear that the interest in Damien's work has significantly expanded and we are relishing the prospect of working with him to continue to develop this.
"The auction is also a reflection of London's increasing status as an international art capital - a place where the very best art is exhibited and sold - and often created. Damien's role in this has been pivotal."
Regards,
Mehul Patel
http://www.KIPL.Net - New Media Solutions
http://IndyChai.com - India's first Web 2.0 Hyper Aggregated Private Reply to Mehul Patel | | Sep 19, 2008 11:01 am | | re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # | 
Nalini Malaviya | | Yeah, despite criticism, sceptism, etc, these are the results!
But, is it art? Or, should we not have a new category for bizarre works? It would probably be easier to deal with it then, maybe.
Incidentally, I've written a short piece on the sale for this Sunday's FT.
Cheers
Nalini
http://indianartscene.blogspot.com/Private Reply to Nalini Malaviya | | Sep 19, 2008 11:26 am | | re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # |
Mehul Patel | | Nalini,
At this point in my life as a collector I am speechless, lost, not sure abt anything!
Just returned from the Shanghai Art Fairs and things were even more crazy there! In the Art Price newly updated list of 50 of the most expensive living Artists more then 35 are Chinese
We all know what happened to the past Saffron Art Auction as well!
The Contemporary Art Game 'If I may call it a Game' is way out of control of collectors, investors and people with just passion!
I know and met a Indian collector from Bombay who was bidding for the Spin work of Damien on Phone, He was quite upset he couldn't get the work!
Whether Art or not, Whether Artist or not, Damien has broken all records and raised the bar beyond imagination, If he is a Markting Magnet / genuis! I think we should learn that from him, and simply forget abt his Art or critisizng the same!
Regards,
Mehul Patel
http://www.KIPL.Net - New Media Solutions
http://IndyChai.com - India's first Web 2.0 Hyper Aggregated Private Reply to Mehul Patel | | Sep 19, 2008 2:06 pm | | re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # |
Nalini Malaviya | | I agree & there's no denying that he's a genius. Although, what some may contend is whether he's an artist!
Nalini
http://indianartscene.blogspot.com/Private Reply to Nalini Malaviya | | Sep 20, 2008 11:05 am | | re: re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # | 
Vishal .... | | 'bizzare works'? 'is not an artist'? ... how can one judge that?
he has 'created' something unique that no other have been able to create ... isnt that 'ART'? so what if his medium and subjects were/are dark and unimaginable -
moreover he has been able to sell it at a stupendous price ... that just rubs the point in :)
he is a genius indeed .... Private Reply to Vishal .... | | Sep 20, 2008 3:18 pm | | re: re: re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # | 
Amit Chopra | | Is there a right way or wrong way to lookat Art?Damien Hirst is able to make and market his Art at great prices.Good for him and the people who buy it.But just because others are buying it doesn't mean everybody is forced to think it's good. Private Reply to Amit Chopra | | Sep 22, 2008 5:58 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # | 
Sonali Engineer | | there was an article long ago in London media which spoke about the 'stun value' that some artists create in their work - the examples sited were the urinal at tate, the famous 'dirty' toilet paper and a soiled bed an artist slept on for a week or so when she broke up from her love. i think Nalini is right in saying Bizzare. I agree with Mehul because my senses are a bit over powered when i cant understand what the world is going crazy over. its the domino effect i think - they know Hirst cannot be killed out of the market and i think its more of a investor play then real art. else if you go by his definition than the rock group (i cant remember their name)which slaughters animals in their live performances shld be given the credit of being artists too!
i saw the display here in delhi and frankly there are junior artists here whose work i would call art rather than call that tamasha art. even the people who came for the show were there for the only reason that they would make it to the newspapers.
its Tamasha and if it becomes art than i would rather retire.
God Bless Hirst and may better sense prevail. though i am not overly worried as his idea of dumping left overs here didnt see the day light. Indians are way to smart to throw their money on these things. besides our vastu and other idiosyncrasies will i think let better sense prevail.
these artists are in a way good for the market - it helps identify genuine art.
but i still cannot come to terms at the prices. Hirsts or anyone elses.
the world is going mad - lets rejoice.
sonali Private Reply to Sonali Engineer | | Sep 23, 2008 2:05 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # |
Amit Chopra | | Beautifully put,Sonali Private Reply to Amit Chopra | | Sep 23, 2008 8:44 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # |
Sonali Engineer | | Thanks Amit. there is a very good article in the sunday times - london edition which talks about Hoffmans quote while at the auction.
its there in indianartnews if anyone wants to enjoy it.Private Reply to Sonali Engineer | | Oct 02, 2008 12:24 am | | re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: re: Damien Hirst sale makes £111 million!!!! | # | 
Gurmeet Singh | | You may find this interesting-
http://whattheheckisart.blogspot.com/2008/10/not-everyone-worships-damien-hirst.html
It's a skeptical take on the most successful hustler of the art world.Private Reply to Gurmeet Singh | | |
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