Modern art smells a lot of money and formalin
ARTinvestment.RU   23 июня 2008

Sotheby's will hold the largest auction of Hirst works Demiena

Shortly after reports that a British artist of the current Damien Hurst (Damien Hirst), famous for its installation on medical topics, sharks in formaldehyde and skull with diamonds, is going to open its own museum , it became known that the auction house Sotheby 's will make the biggest auction of works by this artist.

Trades, entitled Beautiful Inside My Head Forever (for the reader to find his version of the translation), which will be held in the British capital on 15-16 September this year, will be the second bid Demiena Hirst, whose long and things are kept firmly at the top of ranking of the most expensive living artists. For example, in 2004, Sotheby's has already arranged a similar auction, which Hurst called «Pharmaceuticals». Then the bidding yielded 11.1 million pounds.

Designer who made the central theme of his creativity death, using a variety of techniques, but his main know-how has been the creation of monumental sculptures laid out stuffed animals. The most famous series of the artist - Natural History - it is stuffed, placed in formalin, including installation «The physical impossibility of death in the minds of living» (a famous aquarium with sharks), established in 1991. Bought it in 2004 for 12 million dollars, Steve Cohen, after some time has asked the author to replace the shark and to change the technical parameters: water in the aquarium pomutnela, and the shark is slightly altered form, that is showing signs of decomposition exhibit.

Top-fathomable forthcoming auction will become the new monumental sculpture of a bull «golden calf». The head stuffed, inhibited in formaldehyde, is crowned by a gold disc from the same material Hurst otlil horns and hoofs of the animal. Estimeyt works, even by the standards of the artist is extremely high: 16-24 million dollars. However, according to experts, the «golden calves» a chance to beat the record price of one of the most expensive works of art Hirst - locker with pill «Lullaby Spring», sold in 2007 for 9.6 million pounds (nearly $ 20 million).

The extraordinary commercial success of the artist, according to many experts the art market is associated with a good PR of his works, starting with the famous gallery and collector Charles Saatchi. In the 1980's he became the first collector of works by such artists as Tracy Emin and Demien Hurst (now they work some of the most expensive), and now it is famous for its vision and ability to find young artistic talents in the UK . Thanks to Damien Hurst Saatchi became one of the most prominent figures in the group «Young British Artists», dominant in the British art scene since 1990. However, growing differences with the artist's gallery led to the breakdown in 2003.

Anna Savitskaya

Source: www.rian.ru , www.newsru.com , www.sothebys.com , artinvestment.ru