The 15th is pay-day for most folks, so let's start off the week with some new about uberexpensive artwork. However, I highly doubt any of us can afford this piece of art work with our paycheck, or a year's worth for that matter.
You may or may not have heard of Damien Hirst before, but he is the wealthiest artist in the U.K. His well-talked-about piece 'for the love of God' will start its world tour in November, beginning at the Rijksmuseum in Amsterdam. This artwork is a skull which is cast from platinum, encrusted with 8,601 diamonds and has its original teeth, costing over $20 mil to make. The single large diamond in the middle of the forehead is reportedly worth $4.2 million alone. Now, the reason I'm letting you know about this extravagant piece is that it was recently purchased for $100 million dollars by an investment group, that includes Damien Hirst. Interesting that an artist is partially buying some of his own art. The investment group plans to resell the skull, indicating that perhaps Hirst hasn't found a final buyer for it.
Starting today, in a break with art-world convention, Hirst is selling more than 200 new works at auction rather than through a gallery. The expected sales of these items is to exceed $92 Million U.S. This is causing quite a stir in the gallery and dealer realms. Hirst is basically by-passing all of the dealers are galleries, some of which helped him get where he is today. NYT even reported Hirst saying, "The galleries have convinced everyone not to bid." Could Hirst be changing the way art is sold? Hirst put it quite frankly, comparing the issue to Van Gogh, “What I find is unfair is the Van Gogh thing. The artist doesn’t make any money, but everyone else does.” Normally, art sold at auctions is 5 plus years old, making Hirst the first artist to sell new art at an auction.
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