LONDON — "Against a backdrop of reeling financial markets and nervous investors, Sotheby’s and the British artist Damien The Golden Calf'' kept alive a 10-year bull run in the art market last night as collectors vied for the British artist's works at Sotheby's, even as global stock markets collapsed.
Hirst's ``Beautiful Inside My Head For Ever'' auction in London took 70.5 million pounds ($126.6 million) with fees, led by the 10.3 million-pound preserved Charolais calf with 18-carat gold horns. The total was a record for a sale of works by one artist, said Sotheby's, which had estimated the evening would fetch as much as 62.4 million pounds. All but two of the 56 lots sold.Hirst forged ahead with “Beautiful Inside My Head Forever,” a highly publicized auction of 223 works, all by Mr. Hirst and all made within the last two years. In a gamble that could have ramifications for other artists, Mr. Hirst was bypassing his dealers — the Gagosian Gallery, based in the United States, and White Cube, based in London — and taking his work straight to auction with a sale that began here on Monday night and concludes on Tuesday afternoon.
And there were signs that the bet was paying off: the first session’s total was $127.2 million, above the high estimate of $112 million. “I woke up this morning in the teeth of the gale of recession,” Mr. Hirst’s business manager, Frank Dunphy, said after the sale, “but we came out as confident as ever.” Tobias Meyer, worldwide head of contemporary art at Sotheby’s, explained the total this way: “Damien Hirst is a global artist that can defy local economies.” Jose Mugrabi, a New York dealer, had another take: “Today people believe more in art than the stock market. At least it’s something you can enjoy.”
While Mr. Hirst risked flooding his own market, he had also spent several months courting potential buyers. Still, he could not anticipate the sale’s timing, amid news that Lehman Brothers had filed for bankruptcy and other serious changes on the financial landscape. Sotheby’s was said to be taking steps to ensure that the sale did not fall flat, like offering buyers a six-month grace period to pay for purchases.
Jay Jopling, owner of the White Cube gallery, could be seen in the audience bidding on works (and winning at least one, “The Triumvirate,” which features anatomical models, for $3.1 million). Word in the auction world was that Sotheby’s had given him an incentive to steer his clients to the sale. Sotheby’s declined to comment on any of the financial arrangements. As part of his sales pitch, Mr. Hirst said that he would no longer be making spin or butterfly paintings and that there would be far fewer dead animals and almost no dot paintings."
We've heard that before!!!!!!
