Damien Hirst
Available Works
Meller Merceux is delighted to be showcasing a unique item from its contemporary collection: an original Damien Hirst drawing, completed in an auction catalogue for Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, published by Sotheby’s London in 2008. The lavishly produced book, which accompanied the ground-breaking exhibition and auction of Hirst’s work, has been signed and annotated with a number of drawings by the artist himself. Aside from this exclusivity, what makes this piece even more desirable is the context surrounding the auction event.
Damien Hirst is an influential and innovative figure. Since his emergence as one of the Young British Artists, he has become firmly established as one of the most well-known and sought after artistic figures throughout the world. His work boldly addresses themes of life and death, beauty and decoration, as well as common belief and value systems. Having transformed both his persona and his practice into a global brand, Hirst has effectively used his fame as a medium, expanding the role of the artist in the 21st Century. Not only is Hirst a groundbreaking artist and avid collector, he is also a canny businessman. He has opened a number of London restaurants and has co-founded Other Criteria, a company producing limited-edition artists’ publications. The original drawing presented by Meller Merceux combines many aspects of Hirst’s practice, neatly framing his artistic achievements in one compelling object.
Born in Bristol, Hirst first came to public attention in London in 1988 when he curated Freeze, an exhibition of his own work and that of his fellow Goldsmiths College students staged in a disused warehouse in London’s Docklands. The show attracted the attention of some of the world’s leading collectors and soon Hirst began exhibiting in more established spaces such as the ICA and the Serpentine Gallery. In 1991, a direct commission from Charles Saatchi allowed Hirst to produce one of his most iconic works: The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living – a tiger shark suspended in a vitrine of formaldehyde. Saatchi bought the piece for £50,000 and held it in his collection until 2004, when it was sold on to an American collector for approximately £7m. This increase in value illustrates how successful Hirst’s work can be as an investment. Hirst went on to win the prestigious Turner Prize in 1995, the same year that he had a solo show at New York’s Gagosian Gallery. Two years later, back in London, the Royal Academy staged the iconic Sensation! exhibition, which prominently featured a number of Hirst’s pieces. His productive relationship with Saatchi seemed set to continue into the new century until a falling out following a 2003 show at London’s County Hall. Hirst subsequently distanced himself from the event and criticised Saatchi for trying to dictate taste with purchasing power. This was arguably the catalyst for Hirst’s increasing intervention in the art market and the background to his desire to shake up established relations between artists, dealers and buyers. This strategy was fully implemented in 2008, when Hirst made one of the most audacious moves of his career. Beautiful Inside My Head Forever brought together an entirely new collection of works to be exhibited and auctioned by Sotheby’s London. It included examples from Hirst’s most popular series – spot, spin and butterfly paintings; medicine, pill and instrument cabinets, as well as his iconic vitrines. Yet what was unprecedented in this case was that he sold his work directly from an auction house, thereby bypassing his representatives at the Gagosian and White Cube galleries. Sotheby’s also courted controversy over the auction. It effectively broke a 250-year tradition of not operating in the primary market – in other words not selling directly on behalf of any individual artist. Hirst’s intention was to open the market up, wanting, as he put it, “to cut out the galleries, and take a whole load of box-fresh pieces straight to market, no strings, highest bidder wins. Bang!” The two-day sale – an exclusive event which Meller Merceux had VIP tickets for was a staggering success. All 218 works were sold for a total of £111m, making it a landmark event not only in Hirst’s career but a watershed moment for the art world as a whole. This triumph of the sale was all the more impressive considering that it occurred on the same day that the American banking giant Lehman Brothers collapsed, effectively signalling the start of the global economic crisis. The fact that many lots were sold for record-breaking prices seems almost unbelievable in this context, yet this demonstrates the resilience of the art market and the enduring popularity of Hirst.
It is with reference to all these circumstances that Meller Merceux presents the unique original drawing. Executed on the night of the 15th September, the drawing is signed and dedicated by Hirst across a double page spread. Three self-referential sketches – depicting the outline of a shark, the luminous skull of For the Love of God (a £15m sculpture consisting of a platinum human skull covered with more than 8,000 diamonds), and a butterfly – here become emblems representing some the artist’s most recognisable works. The nature of the dedication – to Don, a security man – also indicates Hirst’s delight at the success of the Sotheby’s events. The catalogue, which has been beautifully framed, is not only an exceptionally rare instance of the artists’ hand, but a document that neatly captures Hirst’s audacious attitude to his art.
Hirst’s cultural currency is continuing to rise. Alberto Mugrabi, a major private dealer places Hirst alongside figures such as Pablo Picasso and Andy Warhol. In fact, Hirst’s reputation and value will almost certainly skyrocket in the context of upcoming events. Between April and September 2012, Tate Modern will present the most comprehensive survey of Hirst’s work ever held in the UK. The monumental show will form a central part of the Tate’s celebration of the Olympic Games, at a time when the eyes of the world will be focused on London. It is rumoured that part of the exhibition will focus exclusively on the impact of the Beautiful Inside My Head Forever auction. In addition to the Tate retrospective, there is another long-term project that will raise the artist’s profile and cause his value to soar even higher. Hirst himself is currently developing Toddington Manor, a Gothic mansion in Gloucestershire that he purchased for £3m in 2005. The 300-roomed, Grade-I listed building will host Hirst’s growing collection of his own work and that of artists he collects. The £10m restoration of the house and grounds is a life’s work for Hirst, so it could be said that under miles of scaffolding, the ever ambitious artist is not only constructing what will be the world’s largest private art museum, but is also building what may yet prove to be his most enduring legacy.
written by DR. JOHN ROBERTS
