My, How Art Prices Grow
Living, rawartint; The Dream Faol, artnewsblog /Artwork: designslinger]
The artist Damien Hirst, has the art world all a twitter once again. You may, or may not remember
his formaldehyde encased shark that exploded on to the scene in the 1990s, but his newest innovation is not about art but commerce. Instead of selling the 223 new works he has created over the past two years through gallery representation, he's selling directly to the highest bidder. Yesterday, Sotheby's sold 54 lots totaling $127 million dollars worth of Hirst's art in the first of two sessions, and he didn't have to pay any gallery commissions. The financial markets my be in melt down, but this artists market is thriving.
The rule of thumb for earning a living as an artist is getting gallery representation. It is the primary
focus of any artist interested in generating income. In the beginning you won't make a financial killing since a gallery may take as much as 50% of the sale price of your work, but the more popular you become the better your chances of getting a larger piece of the pie. On the other hand, a sale at auction usually doesn't translate into big cash for the artist, just for the seller. Say you bought a Damian Hirst when he was an unknown art student. His reputation and marketability have grown exponentially over the years and you decide to cash in on his fame. You consign your work to Sotheby's and the drawing you bought for $100 sells for an astonishing $300,000. Sotheby's collects a commission on top of the sale price, you walk away with a nest egg, but Hirst doesn't see a penny.
Some of the highest priced artwork has sold at auction, though the record prices have come from
private deals. In 2006, David Geffen sold two pieces of art from his private collection. Jackson Pollock's, No. 5, 1948 was sold for the all-time record breaking price of $140 million dollars. At the same time Geffen also sold Willem de Kooning's, Woman III for the second highest price ever paid at $137.5 million. Another privately arranged sale was the purchase of Gustav Klimt's, Portrait of Adele Bloch-Bauer to Ronald Lauder for the Neue Galerie, for $135 million in 2006.
When a piece sells at auction, the price may be determined by the frenzy in the room, the desire to
possess, instant recognition in the art world, the need to show you have the cash to throw around, as much it may have to do with the artists reputation. Pablo Picasso's, Boy With a Pipe (1905), holds the highest auction record for a single work at $104 million sold in 2004. Followed by his 1941, Dora Maar with Cat, which fetched $95 million in 2006. A Vincent van Gogh work held the record for years with the sale of his 1890, Portrait of Dr. Gachet, 2nd Version, at Christie's in 1990, for $78 million.
And, it doesn't stop there. In May, 2008 Lucian Freud's, Benefits Supervisor Sleeping set a new
world record for a living artist, when Christies lowered the gavel at $33 million. It was sold by a private European collector so Freud didn't see a farthing. Perhaps that's why Hirst went straight to the auction market bypassing the galleries altogether. For a living artist high auction prices can mean much higher gallery prices, but Freud's gallery is going to be hard pressed to get something close to $33 million dollars for one of his paintings. Why? The marketplace. Nothing can jack up prices like a hot auction, and with Hirst's star quality the combination was ripe for big money. He may have a deal with the two galleries who represent him, Gagosian and White Cube, in which they get a piece of the action, but it could portend a sea change in a centuries old tradition in the way art is sold. Look at poor van Gogh, the guy died destitute but Hirst has no qualms about going for the gold.
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