The Business of Damien Hirst

Damien Hirst outperforms the S&P 500, but it's a recession after all:

The average auction price for a Hirst work in 2008 was $831,000. So far in 2010 it is down to $136,000, a sum that does not even take into account the many lots that failed to find buyers. With prices down to 2002 levels, the artist’s work is outperforming the S&P 500, but is lagging well behind Artnet’s C50 contemporary art index, an industrial average of the 50 most traded post-war artists (see chart 2).

The article in The Economist is long and worth reading despite and I guess because of the comical bloodlessness of the above.



The video is cranky get-off-my-lawn fun, if you imagine rich people and careerists wanting to hang out on your lawn (in which case I guess the smarter thing to ask is "How can I profit from this? What should it cost to be on my lawn?"). Quote from an "art advisor" in part 9:

We're all defined by the way we present to the world and some of us do it with very big diamonds and large homes and some of us do it with very big diamonds and large homes filled with magnificent art.

Thea Westreich, my shit in your mouth is worth $10000, but I will let you have it for $8000.

Playlist of the complete program here.