damien hirst

Art Basel was fun again this year. After a recession-stained climate last year led to toned down partying, collectors and dealers (and everyone else) was back in style this time around. According to the Wall Street Journal, it seemed like everyone was throwing a party this year, with the likes of Larry Gagosian and Lance Armstrong getting in on the action. And, the parties didn't suck. Hosts went all out -- with live music and other attractions -- to separate themselves from the competition. Some even tried something new, with the words "Everybody has a Damien Hirst" uttered.

Of course, there were enough celebrities in supply to ensure that every host had one to boast about. Scott Stapp, lead singer of Creed, and Russell Simmons, for example, were present at the Mondrian South Beach Hotel. Simmons is a committed collector of works by Jean-Michel Basquiat and Barbara Krueger and was in town to raise money for his charity, Rush Philanthropic Arts Foundation.

An after-party hosted by Julian Schnabel's art dealer son, Vito, attracted some big names, as well. Peter Brant, an art collector who recently tried to move "Brother Sausage" by Basquiat at auction, was there, along with Abby Rosen.

Yet, there were more intimate dinners and cocktail parties than in past years, according to Art Basel regulars. A few corporate sponsors still made the plunge, including UBS, NetJets and Cartier.

I'm still not sold that the art market is recovering (it could be, but it's too soon to tell). But, if it is, the upside is going to the galleries and collectors -- the artists aren't getting squat. November was generally kind to Christie's, Sotheby's and Phillips de Pury, leading to hundreds of millions of dollars in art sales. So, to get their own piece of the art market pie that may or not be forming, artists are starting to go directly to the buyers.

Artist Ryan McGinness hosted a sale of pieces by several artists, with the person who did the work taking home all the spoils. The presale estimate of $47,000 to $57,000 made sense, as the final tally came to $51,300, pretty much in the middle. McGinness himself was present at the event ... via a video connection from Amsterdam.

The traditional auction model trends to benefit collectors rather than artists, as it creates a secondary market for artwork. It's really no different from the stock market. An IPO, if successful, will be the starting point, with the price going up later, to the advantage of all subsequent owners.

The critics weren't kind to Damien Hirst's latest collection, which was exhibited at the Wallace Collection. It doesn't seem to have mattered. All news is good news in Hirst-land, as evidenced by the sales of his most recent effort. Hirst opened a new show yesterday at White Cube. Even if the media isn't crazy about his, the artist's collectors haven't ended the love affair. Five of the seven largest pieces in his new "Nothing Matters" collection sold before the show opened, with the highest-priced piece hitting $15.7 million, despite an initial point of only 235,000 pounds.

The show runs at White Cube through January 20, 2010, but you'll have to accept that you'll be checking out what is now other people's property. Hirst collectors are nothing if not loyal.

It looked like to sculptures by Damien Hirst were headed for court. The two pieces, worth an estimated $47.6 million, were part of a broader lawsuit involving Udo Fritz-Hermann Brandhorst, an art collector and heir to the Henkel AG & Co. fortune. Brandhorst's former mistress, Venetia Kapernekas, sued Brandhorst in federal court for the artwork.

Kapernekas, a 49-year-old art dealer, agreed to drop the lawsuit over the weekend in exchange for custody of the daughter she had with Brandhorst, a one-time $100,000 payment, a $500,000 trust for their daughter's education, a loft in Soho (worth around $5 million) to be held in the daughter's name and $640,000 to cover her legal expenses. She'll also get $5,000 a month in child support.

As part of the deal, Kapernekas will be able to sell an Andy Warhol painting she received from Brandhorst. It's a heart-shaped blue and red piece called "Candy Box Open" from 1983. She has chosen Sotheby's in London to handle the sale, and it could go for $40,000. She won't be able to sell another Warhol, "Heart," because it belongs to her daughter.

On November 17 in London Sotheby's and Louis Vuitton will co-host a gala charity auction of six limited-edition Special Orders Vuitton pieces to benefit the Red Cross and commemorate the organization's 150th anniversary. Since its creation in 1854, Vuitton's Special Orders department has made bespoke creations (see Karl Lagerfeld's here) to suit the whims of customers willing to pay for the perfect carrying case to suit their whims. For the Red Cross benefit sale, Vuitton created custom pieces for Damien Hirst (a butterfly armoire), chef Ferran Adrià (trolley case with knife tray), photographer Annie Leibovitz (camera bags), musician and composer Gustavo Santaolalla (instrument case), Vuitton creative director Marc Jacobs (dog carrier) and Patrick Louis Vuitton (alligator tool kit), the head of Vuitton's Special Orders department and a member of the fifth generation of the Vuitton family. Each piece was designed by Patrick-Louis Vuitton in collaboration with the celebrity, along with a special Red Cross medical kit trunk (above) with boxes for emergency supplies.

Ukraine is about to get a new contemporary art center. Victor Pinchuk is shooting to make Kiev a major art destination, so the wealthy art collector is creating a new center that will be larger than the existing PinchukArtCentre, which was the first private contemporary art center in the former Soviet Union and has had more than 830,000 visitors since its doors swung open in 2006.

Pinchuk, a steel billionaire, is an avid collector, with pieces by Jeff Koons, Damien Hirst and Andreas Gursky. His new endeavor, he tells Bloomberg News, "will make Kiev and Ukraine a fantastic place for contemporary art." Pinchuk made the proclamation at a show for 20 Ukrainian artists who were nominated for the first Pinchuk Art Center Prize, which comes with a cash component of $12,200 and a one-month internship with an artist from the international scene. Hirst himself will announce the winner on December 4, 2009.

Pinchuk has a strong relationship with the artist celebrity and owns "probably half" of the skull paintings (by the collector's own estimation) in the current Hirst show at the Wallace Collection in London. He also participated in Hirst's solo auction in September 2008 but wouldn't tell what he bought.

The three major auction houses were upbeat at the Frieze Art Fair and seem to think an art market recovery is in the works. ArtInfo reports that Sotheby's, Christie's and Phillips de Pury came out of the event feeling positive about the market's direction – even if it is tempered with a dose of reality. The number of pieces sold and the prices at which they moved were still pretty far from what they were in the pre-Lehman days. For now, though, collectors need to think about the early stages of recovery, not hope for a return to the glory days of 2007.

The auction houses did fairly well, though estimates tend to be far lower than a year ago. Damien Hirst's Wallace Collection moved well, with "Two Skulls" selling for $705,244, far more than its presale estimate. Emerging artists had moments in the sun, as well, particularly Hurvin Anderson's "Untitled (Beach Scene)," which sold for $158,304 – more than three times its presale estimate. Farhad Moshiri's "Cowboy and Indian" more than doubled its presale estimate, with a price of $548,976. In general, the auctions posted sufficient results, the first step in a market turn. Sotheby's and Christie's pierced the $20 million mark in recent contemporary auctions, and Phillips de Pury moved 31 of 43 lots to reach $6.7 million in a recent contemporary auction.

Now that the art market is moving from Frieze to FIAC and into the busy fall auction season, we'll get a sense of what 2010 will look like ... and if the market is finally picking up the momentum we all want it to show. The last art market slump, from 1990 to 1992, didn't bring an immediate resolution, with prices not returning to normal until 1995. So, brace yourselves for a slow recovery (or treat it as bargain season!).

Christie's International moved $18.3 million in art at its contemporary London auction on Friday. Three pieces sold for more than $1.6 million (including fees), with the top price going for a piece by Martin Kippenberger ($3.76 million); a phone bidder acquired it. Of the 25 lots offered at the art auction, which coincided with the Frieze Art Fair, 24 sold. Half the lots went to bidders from North America.

The equivalent auction held by Christie's last year consisted of 47 lots and brought in revenue of $52 million. But, it missed the low-end estimate of $95 million by a mile. At that auction, 45 percent of the lots didn't sell.

The seemingly better performance this year may provide a warm feeling to a market that's been battered for a while, but it should be balanced against the fact that expectations were much lower than last year, a trend that has developed throughout the art market slump.

Other impressive results include $1.46 million for "Signal Box" by Neo Rauch, $1.57 million for Jean-Michel Basquiat's "Fuego Flores" and $886,000 for Damien Hirst's "Retribution."

Damien Hirst is again playing the role of philanthropist (so I have to be nice), along with Raqib Shaw and Marc Quinn. The artists have donated paintings to an auction that London jeweler Laurence Graff is holding for FACET (For Africa's Children Every Time). Graff wants to raise $1.26 million for the organization, which seeks to support the education, health and quality of life of children in Africa ... where Graff Diamonds picks up most of its raw material.

Graff's event follows several other charity auctions this year, all of which were pretty impressive in their results. Sotheby's raised ₤453,950 for two organizations that help orphans in Africa, and Christie's raised an astounding €342.5 million at its Yves Saint Laurent collection auction back in February – the money will be used to fund HIV research and fight the spread of AIDS.

The first lot donated was by Graff himself: diamond earrings estimated to be worth around ₤80,000. The other paintings (e.g., by Hirst) are pegged at around ₤100,000 each.

A college project by artist Damien Hirst sold at auction last week for roughly $50,000. The collage, "Red Rubber Ball," sold at the low end of the estimate, which ranged up to $80,000. The piece includes a variety of found objects, such as a toy rabbit, a severed head from a doll and a dried out rose. Originally, Damien Hirst gave the piece to Julie Balmforth, who studied with him at Goldsmiths College.

The collage measures 39.5 inches by 31.5 inches and sold at Duke's of Dorchester, in Dorset. While the buyer's identity was not revealed, auctioneer Guy Schwinge would say that it went to an Irish collector "who is very excited at his purchase."

Whoever picked up the piece did buy something rare: a piece actually created with Hirst's own hands.

On November 17, 2009, several celebrity-designed luggage will go up for auction at Sotheby's. The purpose is to celebrate the 150th anniversary of the Red Cross, which is about as worthy an organization as one can imagine. In all seriousness – most people have no idea the true range of services and support that the Red Cross offers. If a soldier overseas needs to be reached because of an emergency back home, the family can call the Red Cross, which will do all the legwork. So, it's exciting to see some big names getting behind this cause.

Among the designers, however, are some artists who have been in the news lately. Annie Leibovitz, fresh from her negotiations with Art Capital Group over her $24 million loan, is finding some time for goodwill despite her financial situation. Her contribution is a red-lined backpack designed specifically for camera equipment.

Damien Hirst has also gotten in on the charitable action. The taxidermist artist who developed a name dumping maritime life in formaldehyde and affixing as many diamonds as possible to skulls has put together a tall black trunk with little drawers to hold surgical devices – which is what Hirst uses to build his ... ummmm ... stuff. This piece, in particular, should be in high demand, now that a Damien Hirst piece may actually have been touched by Damien Hirst. Last November, he laid off 17 of the 22 people involved in his pill cabinet creation.

Let's hope that these pieces – and the others brought to Sotheby's in two months – sell for fantastic prices. Art market be damned! This event is for a great organization, and every extra dollar of success will help someone out who needs it.

At today's Phillips de Pury & Co. auction, Now: Art of the 21st century, handbag designer (and possibly former artist) Damien Hirst is back on the scene with a major auction house. A year ago, he divested his collection of his own work, ostensibly sensing that the market for him was about to crash (which, in fact, it did). Phillips de Pury isn't making any big bets today with Hirst, though. For now, it has two lithographs of Hirst's famous(ly expensive) skull up for sale. For the Love of God, Laugh; The Diamond Skull is listed at £10,000 - £15,000.

Peter Fuss, on the other hand, seems to have nailed it. His piece, For the Laugh of God,, shown above, is also up for grabs. It's a knockoff skull, listed for a little more than half the price of the lithos (£6,000 - £8,000), but the title conveys the spirit. Created when Hirst was peddling the original skull for the princely sum of £50 million ($100 million at the time), For the Laugh of God was originally offered for £100, as a way to help Britain reclaim this "treasure."

The blog "Modelator," which covers Polish art, observed in June 2007, "Our British friends, we are coming to rescue you! Like the cheap Polish labour well known to you, Polish artist Peter Fuss wishes to relieve the British nation from such a great expense." This was in response to Guardian journalist Jonathan Jones, who declared, "We must buy the diamond skull for Britain."

While Hirst's skull cost a fortune even in materials, For the Laugh of God consists of close to 9,900 pieces of glass made to look like diamonds and entailed an investment of £250 and 18 hours. Now, it's up for more than 40 times that amount, while Hirst is reduced to selling posters.

Selling at the top of a bubble is fantastic ... if you can pull it off. You look, feel and live like an absolute genius. Former art dealer Anthony d'Offay did this, unloading 725 postwar and contemporary pieces before the art market collapsed, dragged down by a global financial crisis. Timing is everything, and the collection purchased for a mere £26.5 million was valued at an astounding £125 million. Included were Jeff Koons' "Winter Bears," an Andy Warhol hamburger (evidently more expensive than those at Burger Joint) and an Anselm Kiefer palm tree.

D'Offay didn't make a dime.

Rather than sell the collection at a profit of close to £100 million, he sold them to the United Kingdom at cost: £26.5 million. Instead of taking the money, d'Offay chose to be paid with strings ... namely those attached to the deal. The condition of his sale was that the country had to send the artwork on tour throughout the UK, making it easy for people under age 18 to access the art.

D'Offay explains that financial constraints on British museums – which are free and thus have no money with which to acquire new pieces – are great for the people, but not for keeping the walls full with fresh material. On the list for the future is a special room for Damien Hirst's "Pharmacy" installation and has already purchased Hirst's "Painkillers" piece (pill cabinet) for $877,000. In a deal with Hirst, he also picked up work by Koons, and Hirst's new "Necromancer." Hirst was d'Offay's gallery assistant as he was finishing college.

D'Offay's talent, he says, is buying art, rather than curating or creating. He became inspired as a child in northern England when viewing a collection of Francis Bacon (shocking, right? Bacon connection comes back again ...).

Last year, Vanity Fair's "New Establishment" list was hefty with art market players. This year, the magazine noted that the Wall Street folks and "big media" got their asses handed to them ... but a quick look shows that the arts got slammed, as well.

In 2008, the entire Francis Bacon supply chain showed up on the list. Bacon-inspired Damien Hirst (shown at right) filled the production link, with dealer Larry Gagosian moving Hirst's product and Roman Abramovich buying up not the Bacon-inspired but the works of the master himself. And, they wound up in some hefty positions. Hirst hit #31, with Gagosian close behind at #38. Of course, deep pockets win, which is how ol' Roman pierced the top 10 (at #8).

This year? Well, the Francis Bacon supply chain didn't fair as well. Abramovich was ignored completely, along with Gagosian. Hirst was tossed into the "Pit Stop," where he's joined by shark-loving hedge fund manager and art collector Steve Cohen, who sacrificed $750 million of his own wealth to the financial crisis.

While Cohen keeps the comings and goings of SAC Capital Advisors under wraps, we do know that Hirst had to layoff 20 employees. There's a silver lining, though. With Hirst having to do more of his own work, we probably won't have to see as much of it.

The time to grow is when the market is suffering. This must be in the back of the mind of art market guru Larry Gagosian, who has been involved with such heavy-hitter artists as Damien Hirst and Richard Prince. While there are small signs of a recovery, much is still uncertain. However, this hasn't stopped Gagosian from making a bold move: opening a branch of the Gagosian Gallery in Paris.

Bloomberg News reports that Gagosian is in talks to pick up space in the 8th arrondissement, near la rue du Faubourg Saint-Honore. Nobody from the Gagosian camp has commented so far.

There are plenty of deep-pocketed art collectors in Paris, including Francois and Bernard Arnault, and the French market hasn't suffered as severely as those in London and New York. That said, Paris is the smallest of the western troika, but with a presence in the two largest markets already, the French capital was the next logical step.

Waring Hopkins, director of modern art specialist Hopkins-Custot – which is located in what is likely to become Gagosian's back yard – observed to Bloomberg, "Gagosian would instantly become one of the most important dealers in Paris," and that setting up shop in Paris "would be good for Gagosian and it would be good for the city."

The market itself is only part of what makes the expansion shrewd. Gagosian can use the space in Paris to show works from contemporary artists represented by competing galleries in New York and London.