Arte: Golden calf, bull's heart, a new shark: Hirst's latest works may fetch £65m
- The Guardian,
- Tuesday July 29 2008
A small menagerie of new Damien Hirst pickled animals took a bow yesterday, including a new shark, a zebra, a calf with solid gold horns and hoofs valued at up to £12m, and even a unicorn - a white foal fitted with a resin horn, rather than an apparition from a fairytale.
All have been churned out by his small army of assistants this year for an auction at Sotheby's in September which will sell more than 200 pieces. The auction is predicted to raise £65m, comfortably setting a new world record for the artist, and blazing a trail which other artists will watch with interest, of bypassing the gallery and dealer system and going straight to auction.
Both the Gagosian Gallery, and Jay Jopling's White Cube, his American and British dealers, have given the auction their blessing, possibly through gritted teeth. Yesterday Jopling said: "I've stood alongside him in all his ventures including his strategic forays into the auction world, which have certainly helped to broaden his market. 8601 flawless diamonds [Hirst's £50m diamond-studded skull] notwithstanding, ours has never been a traditional marriage and I look forward to many more adventures to come."
Larry Gagosian said his gallery would probably be buying: "He can certainly count on us to be in the room with paddle in hand."
Sotheby's and Hirst have been forging an equally intense relationship. Earlier this year he joined with the singer Bono to lead the RED charity auction at Sotheby's in New York, which raised over $42m (£21m) with donations from Banksy, Marc Quinn and Anish Kapoor, the most successful charity art auction ever. The flirting began in 2004, when Hirst sold the contents of his restaurant Pharmacy, from ash trays, wallpaper and bar stools to wall cabinet sculptures, through the auction house: after queues around the block to get into the auction, every piece sold, for £11.1m, well over double the top estimate.
Last year Hirst briefly set the auction record at Sotheby's - £9.65m for Lullaby Spring, a medicine cabinet - for any work by a living artist. However, he was knocked off his perch within a few months by the American pop artist Jeff Koons, whose Hanging Heart sold at another Sotheby's auction in New York for $23.6m, leaving New York dealer Richard Feigen to include both, along with Andy Warhol, on his personal list of the world's most over-valued artists.
Yesterday Oliver Barker, senior international specialist at the auction house, described the new works as "ambitious, exquisite and incredibly powerful.
"Damien Hirst is still an artist punching above his weight - this is a body of work which takes him into new realms," he added. "It would be so easy to say we've seen it all before with Hirst, but I think people will be blown away by the scale and ambition of this collection. I think he's interested in getting work into parts of the world that have not had the opportunity of buying major pieces before, including India, China and Russia - and we've certainly had a lot of interest from collectors in these places."
Religious theme
The top lot, estimated at up to £12m, is The Golden Calf - a title continuing Hirst's interest in religious themes, referring to the false idol set up and worshipped by the Israelites before an enraged Moses berated them for idolatory. The piece is a tank made of glass and gold-plated steel, holding a real calf with solid 18 carat hoofs, horns and golden disc on its head. A smaller tank piece, The Immaculate Heart - Lost, a bull's heart pierced with a dagger in formaldehyde, also plays on traditional Catholic imagery.
Many other pieces also use gold, including spot paintings on a golden background, and two romantically titled works, Memories of/Moments With You, and Unknown Pleasures, both made of gold-plated steel studded with thousands of manufactured industrial diamonds.
There is also a new shark, from the artist still best known for a piece whose full title is The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, universally known as Shark.
The original, once owned by Charles Saatchi whose collecting helped make the reputation of Hirst and the other once Young British Artists, was re-made last year for its current millionaire owner, the hedge fund billionaire Steve Cohen, because it was visibly decaying. The new shark, estimated at up to £6m, is The Kingdom, a tiger shark in a black framed tank, described by Barker as "majestic".
Sotheby's describes the sale as having something for everyone, as prices begin at an estimate of £20,000 for drawings. Four paintings, together estimated at up to £2.4m, will be auctioned for Hirst's chosen charities, including a children's hospice, the late Joe Strummer's foundation for aspiring musicians, the London-based Kids Company for vulnerable inner-city children, and Survival International.
Last year he created and sold through White Cube the world's most expensive piece of contemporary art, the platinum and diamond cast of a human skull, For The Love of God. It was sold for £50m to an investment consortium, with Hirst retaining a share and persistent rumours that White Cube is also part owner.
The two-day sale, after a 10-day public exhibition of the entire collection at Sotheby's from September 5, will also mark the 20th anniversary of the Freeze exhibition which Hirst helped organise as an art student, with exhibitors including Gary Hume and Sarah Lucas, which launched the phenomenon of the YBAs.
Up for sale
The Golden Calf, estimate £8m-£12m: calf in formaldehyde, with 18ct gold horns and hoofs, in tank with gold-plated steel frame, on marble plinth.
The Kingdom, £4m-£6m: tiger shark, pictured right, in black framed tank
The Dream, £2m-£3m: a "unicorn", a white foal with a long slender horn, in white framed tank, above.
The Incredible Journey, £2m-£3m: zebra in white framed tank.
Memories of/Moments With You, £800,000-£1.2m: Gold-plated steel diptych, studded with hundreds of manufacturerd diamonds.
Aurothioglucose, £400,000-£600,000: trademark spot painting, right, for the first time on gold background.
The Rose Window, Durham Cathedral, £700,000-£900,000: framed recreation, detail right, of medieval stained glass, made of thousands of real butterfly wings.
The Immaculate Heart - Lost, up to £300,000: bull's heart pierced with dagger, main picture, in gold-framed tank.
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