Fools and their money

Last couple of days, wherever I turn, I see stories about Damien Hirst. I would imagine anyone who reads an art blog would know who he is, but if not, he's part of the art world, gaining fame as part of the Young British Artist movement in the 90's. Not that he made anything that most people would consider art. He's best known for display cases with dead animals, some preserved in formaldehyde, some left to rot. Last year he commissioned a diamond encrusted cast platinum skull that was priced at $100 million. And he has a Warhol style factory that produces various products like spin art and dot paintings. (Hirst admits that he lacks the skill to paint the dots himself.) What's most amazing about this is that somehow he has convinced significant numbers of critics and collectors that he's actually an artist, and that his work is worth collecting at outrageous sums of money.

The event that sparked the recent press coverage (NY Times yesterday, CBS today) was his recent decision to bypass his gallery/dealer with his latest batch of new work and to sell it directly to collectors at a major auction house earlier this week. The commission that auction houses take is usually far less than what galleries demand, which makes a difference when the 223 works bring in a total of $200 million. The CBS story mentioned something interesting- his own gallery, who he had cut out of the profit loop in this auction, was there spending many millions to buy some items, and bidding up many others. This was mostly an effort to keep up the value of unsold work of his they had in stock. And it would not be surprising if other Hirst collectors were there for the same purpose. So what we had here was less an art auction than a commodities trading session. Really no different from the speculative bubble that shot oil prices to record highs over the past year. Well, unlike the gasoline prices we've all suffered, at least the only people who will be hurt by this bubble are the fools who spent the money on these Hirst products.

By the way, if anyone reading this has millions of dollars to spend on art, and was outbid in the Hirst auction, drop me a line. I've got plenty of inventory of my own work available, and you won't have to worry about where you will store a rotting carcass.