Spot painting by Hirst

One person who you would perhaps expect not to be inclined to agree is Damien Hirst. Referred to some as the father of ‘Britart’ whatever britart is supposed to mean, (actually, I think it’s a term that evolved from the 90s term ‘Britpop’ although what the British art scene now has to do with the British rock renaissance of the 90s I am not sure…) Damien recently became the richest living artist after the success of his ground breaking sale at Sotherby’s that earnt him almost one hundred million pounds.

Hirst with Tiger shark, glass, steel, 5% formaldehyde solution 213 x 518 x 213 cm

Damien has said that his future works will be priced more in accordance with market forces stating “If I want to sell new work, I’ll price it lower. If people have got less money, you can either just shut your door and say, ‘Screw everybody’, or I can wait until everyone can afford my work or price it cheaper.”

Also reflecting for the first time on his recent Sotherby’s success he said “I woke up that morning and I saw the papers had called it Black Monday,” he said. “I was shitting myself. I thought maybe they wouldn’t sell anything. People were looking at me, and I thought I was going to be slaughtered. I didn’t know what was going to happen with banks collapsing.”

What happened was a record breaking sale. Many people were more confident to invest in art than stocks. He does feel that the timing was lucky and also that perhaps some of the work was perhaps (in retrospect) priced too high. Now that he is worth two hundred million pounds he is pleased with the recent drop in prices of art work, the bubble had to burst sometime, but better it bursts just after cashing in right Damien?