Damien Hirst

20 Stories

'Crap' Medicine Cabinet May Sell for Millions of Dollars

Damien Hirst's 'peculiar' work of art hits the auction block in February

(Newser) - It looks like your average well-stocked medicine cabinet. It's the details, and the expected price, that show it's actually a work of art. Bodies , a doorless medicine cabinet created by British artist Damien Hirst in 1989, is expected to fetch as much as $2.3 million when it...

Study: Artist's Famous Works Were Leaking Poisonous Gas

Damien Hirst and the Tate deny anyone was in danger

(Newser) - It turns out artist Damien Hirst's famous displays of dead animals preserved in formaldehyde may have been dangerous to more than just artistic sensibilities. A study published this month in Analytical Methods found Hirst's pieces were leaking formaldehyde gas at levels 10 times higher than the legal limit...

Hirst Exhibition Killed 9K Butterflies

Animal rights groups slam British artist

(Newser) - British artist Damien Hirst, famous for his works using pickled and dismembered animals, has once again angered animal rights groups—this time for a work that used live creatures. His "In and Out of Love" exhibition at London's Tate Modern allowed visitors to observe the lives of butterflies...

Damien Hirst Plastic Skull: Yours for $58K

'Hallucinatory Head ' on sale at Tate Modern gift shop

(Newser) - We get it. You've always dreamed of owning Damien Hirst's diamond-encrusted human skull , or maybe his diamond-encrusted baby skull , but you just don't have the scratch. Well if you swing by Damien Hirst's new exhibit at the Tate Modern, you can now have the next best...

Damien Hirst's Latest: Bejeweled Baby Skull

At least one parents' group is offended

(Newser) - Has bad-boy British artist Damien Hirst finally gone too far? The head of a parenting group says his latest work, a baby skull covered in platinum and bejeweled with 8,000 diamonds, will be “deeply disturbing” to bereaved parents. The skull used in For Heaven’s Sake is believed...

Morrissey Wants Damien Hirst's Head 'Kept in a Bag'
Morrissey Wants Damien Hirst's Head 'Kept in a Bag'
DEAD ANIMALS AREN'T ART
Mar 16, 2010 10:09 PM CDT

Morrissey Wants Damien Hirst's Head 'Kept in a Bag'

'How many calves in formaldehyde does world need?'

(Newser) - Damien Hirst’s artwork can be inscrutable to some, but count moody Morrissey as an outright hater. “Hirst’s head should be kept in a bag” for his use of dead animals, the singer opines in Interview —where he’s actually the one supposedly asking the questions of...

9 Other Pricey Art Mishaps

 9 Other 
 Pricey Art 
 Mishaps 
poor picasso
Jan 26, 2010 12:37 PM CST

9 Other Pricey Art Mishaps

Pablo Picasso's 'The Actor' is hardly the first expensive accident

(Newser) - The art student who tripped and tore a hole in a Picasso painting is probably fairly embarrassed—but will, perhaps, feel better knowing others can sympathize. The Independent lists nine other art catastrophes, some accidental and some not:
  • Cy Twombly: A woman kissed one of his paintings, leaving it smeared
...

Damien Hirst Paintings 'Shockingly Bad'
 Damien Hirst Paintings 
 'Shockingly Bad' 
ART REVIEW
Oct 14, 2009 1:09 PM CDT

Damien Hirst Paintings 'Shockingly Bad'

British artist's exhibit got much hype, but only because he's famous, say critics

(Newser) - “Bad boy of British art" Damien Hirst decided to put his headline-grabbing, conceptual art projects aside and return to painting. Critics, however, are not impressed with the exhibition of 25 new paintings, which opened today:
  • “There are many painters in evening classes much worse than Hirst,” writes
...

Strapped Art Market Preps for Auctions

Expectations low as auction houses try variety of tactics

(Newser) - After a 7-year boom, art auction houses are struggling as collectors hit hard by the recession close their wallets. Sotheby’s predicts it will pull in $179 million to $256 million at spring sales, compared to $742 million a year ago. As the spring events approach, auctioneers are employing an...

Hirst Is Art World's Lehman
 Hirst Is Art World's Lehman 
OPINION
Dec 22, 2008 12:21 PM CST

Hirst Is Art World's Lehman

September mega-sale coincided with investment bank's collapse

(Newser) - With the collapse of Lehman Brothers having opened an “anxious new era” in financial circles and among consumers at large, the auction that brought artist Damien Hirst $166 million on Sept. 15—the very day Lehman went bust—clearly marks the division, Martin Gayford writes for Bloomberg. By year’...

Hirst: Art Is Overpriced
 Hirst: Art Is Overpriced 
Nov 17, 2008 10:39 AM CST

Hirst: Art Is Overpriced

Multimillionaire artist says economic woes will likely bring (his) prices down

(Newser) - With the economic slowdown finally slamming into the art market, one of the world’s priciest living artists says art has become too costly anyway, the Independent reports. British multimillionaire Damien Hirst failed to sell a painting valued at some $3 million last week; in retrospect, he said, it “...

Hirst Auction Yields $199M
 Hirst Auction Yields $199M 
Sep 17, 2008 4:50 PM CDT

Hirst Auction Yields $199M

Dealer-less London sale smashes records

(Newser) - Damien Hirst sold 223 pieces of artwork for $199 million by the end of a two-day auction yesterday, shattering the record for most revenue in an auction of a single artist’s work, Forbes reports. The previous mark was held by Pablo Picasso, with 88 sold for $20 million in...

As Stocks Slide, Hirst Auction Breaks Records

Unprecedented one-man auction exceeds high estimate

(Newser) - Damien Hirst won the biggest gamble of his career at Sotheby's last night—as lot after lot of the artist's work beat high estimates, totaling $127.2 million in sales. While the markets tumbled in New York, bidders in the London saleroom bought up dozens of brand-new Hirsts, from taxidermied...

Hirst Heads to $120M Payday
 Hirst Heads to $120M Payday 
Sep 5, 2008 1:58 PM CDT

Hirst Heads to $120M Payday

Art's bad boy prepares to move in a new direction

(Newser) - Damien Hirst is preparing for the biggest sale of his life—and for one of the richest artists alive, that’s saying something. Sotheby’s is about to auction 223 pieces straight out of his studio, for an anticipated take of $120 million. It marks an unprecedented end run around...

What's With all the Skulls?
What's With all the Skulls?
GLOSSIES
Jul 5, 2008 10:53 AM CDT

What's With all the Skulls?

Ancient death symbol becomes a favorite modern fashion accessory

(Newser) - Heavy metal and Halloween, make room for haute couture. “What used to be a symbol for borderline-sociopathic tough guys with weird design fetishes—Hells Angels, pirates, Nazis—has become a trope de luxe,” writes Stephen Marche in Esquire. The skull, a symbol of death with deep religious significance,...

Hirst Goes Straight to Auction
 Hirst Goes Straight to Auction 
Jun 19, 2008 10:36 AM CDT

Hirst Goes Straight to Auction

Artist eschews galleries and sells new work at Sotheby's

(Newser) - In recent years, art collectors and auction houses have been reaping the profits of soaring contemporary art prices, while living artists watched with chagrin. Now Damien Hirst has stepped into the fray, bypassing the gallery system and bringing his latest works straight to auction. "It’s a very democratic...

Hirst Sculpture Springs a Leak
Hirst Sculpture Springs a Leak
Sep 28, 2007 7:21 AM CDT

Hirst Sculpture Springs a Leak

Oslo museum discovers puddle of formaldehyde from vitrine

(Newser) - Damien Hirst won fame and fortune for his installations of animals preserved in formaldehyde, but now, writes the Telegraph, his vitrines are in less-than-perfect shape. The Astrup Fearnley Museum in Oslo recently discovered liquid seeping out of sculpture Mother and Child Divided, which preserves a cow and calf sliced into...

London Art Sales Soar
London Art Sales Soar
Jun 25, 2007 11:45 AM CDT

London Art Sales Soar

Bacon tops Sotheby's contemporary auctions; London shows new art-market clout

(Newser) - Francis Bacon took top honors and Damien Hirst became the highest-priced living artist—beating out Jasper Johns—at Sotheby's contemporary auctions in London last week. A 1971 Bacon self-portrait went for $43.2 million, and the Hirst pill cabinet called "Lullaby Spring" for $19.4 million. "Hirst is...

Diamonds Are a Skull's Best Friend
Diamonds
Are a Skull's Best Friend
Jun 2, 2007 3:10 PM CDT

Diamonds Are a Skull's Best Friend

Platinum cast + 8,601 jewels = $100M price tag

(Newser) - The priciest work of modern art ever created is on view at a London gallery, priced at just $100 million. Death-obsessed artist Damien Hirst cast a human skull in platinum and encrusted it with diamonds, creating a piece he calls "For the Love of God." He kept the...

Rothko Fetches $73 Million
Rothko Fetches $73 Million
May 16, 2007 8:18 AM CDT

Rothko Fetches $73 Million

Record price for seminal modern work marks trend in art purchases

(Newser) - Sotheby’s sold a Mark Rothko painting last night for $72.84 million, a record price for a piece of art created after World War II and a signal of a new boom in the market. Seller David Rockefeller bought the 7-foot-tall "White Center (Yellow, Pink and Lavender),"...

20 Stories
Most Read on Newser