Does Art = Money? Prepare yourselves, Damien Hirst is back at Sotheby's London

Spotted again and again: Damien Hirst outside Sotheby's St. George St entrance looking waaay too much like his mate Bono.

Hey Zephyr!
Here's a joke for you...
Q: What's the difference between Bono and God?
A: God doesn't walk around pretending to be Bono. hee hee!

And here's my reworked version of that joke...
Q: What's the difference between Damien Hirst and Bono?
A: Bono doesn't walk around trying to be Damien Hirst. ha ha!

It's just a day or so until Sotheby's here in London opens its doors and lets visitors in to see the Beautiful Inside My Head Forever exhibition of works by Damien Hirst that will be sold by auction on September 15 & 16, 2008.

The Sept/Oct 2008 Sotheby's Preview magazine comes with a supplement (it looks like a mini version of the mag) advertising the Hirst sale rather shamelessly under the thin guise of talking about the use of gold and diamonds in some of his new works. Hirst is quoted in the supplement saying "I love how Warhol used 'diamond dust' that was just crushed glass..." Of course you do, Damien, of course you do. What else do you love about Warhol, oh his entire career...really?
Anyway, I shouldn't really quote him because he's just a different - articulate - person in print and we might get something wrong...

Preview is also 'reporting' - as so many media outlets often do - that Hirst is going to stop making some of his signature-style works, specifically the spin and butterfly paintings. Yer right. The publicity generated by saying so then not doing so is the only certainty here - it's kept Hirst in his circa-2001 Prada shades thus far.

People of London: Go to Sotheby's September 5-14, it's FREE, it's the closest many of you will get to this art before it is snapped up for the collections of the rich and famous, and you will witness art history - or is that art-market history? - in the making.




Sotheby's is not just for the snooty, even though they dominate the halls. Some of the works look so amazing in person, especially the 'stained glass windows' made of luminous (Preview copy and slimey Sotheby's experts' word) butterfly wings. Anyway, no visitor will be dissapointed. Some of the pieces (as in the case of the zebra-in-a-tank) I found expensive and sad, like me. Hirst is definitely striking certain chords.

xx F