Morning:
6°c
Golden boy Damien Hirst tests the market with straight-to-auction art works
Louise Jury, Chief Arts Correspondent19 Jun 2008
It is a venture into the art market so audacious few others would dare.
This September Damien Hirst is to sell dozens of new formaldehyde sculptures, drawings and paintings straight from his studio to auction at Sotheby's in London.
In an unprecedented move for a modern artist, Hirst, 43, is offering enough works to warrant two dedicated sales. At a time of economic uncertainty, the gesture is a typically cocksure one from an artist who has proved a canny businessman as well as a Turner Prize-winning art star.
The highlight of the two-day auctions will be The Golden Calf, a monumental sculpture of a bull in formaldehyde in a gold-plated stainless steel and glass box. His head is crowned by a solid gold disc and his hooves and horns are cast in gold.
The new sculpture may not be bling on the scale of the diamond-encrusted skull The estimated price is £8 to £12 million - which at the higher end would break Hirst's previous record at auction.
Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby's contemporary art expert, said: "The new work is not a departure from what we know about Damien's work but it's very much new developments. I've seen the work and I know how exciting this is."
Although they had worked with Hirst on charity auctions such as Red with Bono to raise money for HIV sufferers in Africa, there was no precedent for Hirst's solo sales. But Ms Westphal said: "I think he will do very well at auction."
The move was prompted by his experience in 2004 when the contents of Pharmacy, the former Notting Hill restaurant Hirst co-owned, were sold. Hirst had designed everything from ashtrays to art for the walls and fans spent £11.1 million snapping them up.
Hirst said: "After the success of the Pharmacy sale, I always felt I would like to do another auction. It's a very democratic way to sell art."
His dealers have backed the move. His US representative Larry Gagosian said: "We'll be in the room, paddle in hand."
The works will go on view from 5 September with auctions on 15 and 16 September.
