If a recent interview with ArtNews is any indication, Requiem II will contain the insights you’d come to expect from an artist of Hirst’s caliber. My personal favorite: “Yeah, we ain’t gonna sell as much art, art shows are gonna get better now the focus shifts away from money.”

Brilliant.

Notably absent, of course, is any indication of whether Hirst notified his collectors before divesting a large portion of his holdings (in his own work) nearly a year ago – or if he set himself up for a big payday ultimately at their expense (because of falling art prices).

The art market, of course, reflects the title of the Prince/Hirst publication. The amount of billionaires in the world plunged from 1,125 to 793 (which has had little effect on my life), and the Russian oligarchs who distinguished themselves from the rest of the wealthy world by dropping fantastic sums on high-profile pieces have seen half their ranks fall away (only 49 are left).

The lack of wealthy buyers has had a clear financial impact – another for the “no shit” category. Together, the New York auctions by Sotheby’s (NYSE: BID), Christie’s (LSE: CTG:UK) and Phillips de Pury totaled $421.2 million. More than half of it came from Christie’s ($248.9 million), with Sotheby’s a distant second at $160 million and Phillips barely on the map at $12 million. A year earlier, the total for these three art auction houses was $1.6 billion. Auction sales for the spring season fell by more than 70%.

If you look hard enough, though, you can find signs of life in the art market. Christie’s and Sotheby’s have had a few recent successes … if you measure by sales relative to pre-sale estimates rather than the money that came in 12 months earlier. Some high-profile pieces are moving, and collectors are bargain hunting. But, the art market is still ailing, and it will probably take several ears for the situation to turn.

And, only if we’re really lucky, Damien Hirst will stick to books and leave the rest of us the hell alone.

Source – http://www.bloggingstocks.com/2009/08/03/art-market-sucks-hirst-and-prince-turn-to-books/

The post Art market sucks, Hirst and Prince turn to books first appeared on Indian Art News.

The ‘stunning’ piece, which soared above its pre-sale estimate of £1-1.5 million, “embodies the pioneering manipulation of space and material that characterises the very best output of this world-renowned sculptor.” The untitled sculpture is one of Kapoor’s largest alabaster works and the first double-concave piece to come to auction.

Among other Indian works, Subodh Gupta’s untitled work, created in 2005, catapulted above its pre-sale estimate of £2,00,000-3,00,000, selling for £6,01,250. The untitled canvas, depicting a vessel stall glistening in the pink dawn of sunrise, is one of Gupta’s most important and powerful photo-realist paintings to ever come to the market.

Bharti Kher made her debut appearance at the Sotheby’s Evening Sale of Contemporary Art. Her sculpture, ‘Misdemeanours’, executed in fibreglass, wood and fur, saw bidding from six bidders and finally realised £75,650, against an estimate of £40,000-60,000.

The sale, overall, achieved a phenomenal sum of £94.702 million ($188.854 million) against a pre-sale estimate of £67.4-96.6 million making it the most successful summer sale of contemporary art in Europe. The sale had numerous high points, with records achieved by 11 different artists.

Cheyenne Westphal, chairman of contemporary art, Sotheby’s Europe and Oliver Barker, senior international specialist, Sotheby’s contemporary art department, told ET in an email from London: “We are elated with the results of the sale, the highest ever Summer sale of contemporary art in Europe. We saw 11 records tumble, including ones for Antony Gormley, Bridget Riley, Richard Prince and Anish Kapoor, in front of a hugely energetic and packed saleroom.”

“The top lot of the sale was Francis Bacon’s exquisite small-scale study for head of George Dyer, which sold for £13.7 million. We are also extremely happy with the result achieved for the group of twelve works from the Lauffs Collection, which achieved a total of £18.9 million, almost triple the pre-sale low estimate of £6.4 million. Once again, we are witnesses to a market that is driven by art lovers. Buyers have confidence in the artworks they are competing for, and have shown unprecedented determination to win the lots which they desire.”

Incidentally, the portrait of John McEnroe and Tatum O’Neal by Andy Warhol, depicting McEnroe and O’Neal in their mid-1980s prime, sold for £241,250. Gifted by McEnroe himself, the proceeds will be donated by the tennis star for the benefit of habitat for humanity, which provides not-for-profit housing through the help of volunteers.

The post Records tumble at Sotheby’s auction first appeared on Indian Art News.