Tuesday, September 02, 2008
Where's the next 'Watch Party'?
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The Convention is over. Obama made his speech. No more parties. Or could there be???
What could possibly fill this void between now and the November elections? Only one person came to mind - Damien Hirst of course. As has been well published, on Monday, September 15th at 2:00 pm local time the 'Shark' himself will bypass his two fledgling (ha!) galleries and head straight to Sotheby's with his new wares.
Has there been a better occasion in recent history to take a Monday afternoon off with the chance to see Larry Gagosian and Jay Jopling cry? You can bet those two are going to be doing their best to keep a tight leash on their star's market, especially with the revelation that Hirst's London gallery, White Cube, my have as many as 200 additional works that remain unsold in inventory.
Damien Hirst with his sculpture The Golden Calf. Est. $15 million - $22 millionSo let's get together and have a watch party! I will spend the next couple of weeks scouting the perfect location (please leave suggestions in comment section). The auction will be broadcast via Sotheby's website so we'll need a place with a fast internet connection as well as access to lots of wine, champagne and possibly a formaldehyde inspired cocktail.
I'm also working on some sort of fabulous prize package for the person who comes closest to guessing the total for the September 15th evening sale.
Charge your laptops. More details to come...
5 Responses to “Where's the next 'Watch Party'?”
September 2, 2008 at 9:41 AM
I'm *so* in. We should have fake bidding. Everyone gets $20 million in play money and we can see where we'd end up. Maybe a syndicate could pool their resources!
September 2, 2008 at 3:57 PM
I wonder if he'll be in the audience running up his own bids! Did it ever come to light who the 'investment group' was that bought the skull?
September 2, 2008 at 4:09 PM
I'll I've heard about the aforementioned investment group was that included Damien himself and his London dealer Jay Jopling. I can't tell you if that's true, but that's what I've heard.
September 3, 2008 at 3:41 AM
Yes Christopher, it's true!
They bought it to save the show and hope to sell it off asap...
The Sotheby's sale will certainly help - crazy as it may sound. Yoiu don't really believe that the sale's not rigged, do you?
September 3, 2008 at 9:15 AM
Not sure exactly how you think it's rigged, anon. Are you implying that Damien might be in cahoots with his two dealers and this 'investment group' to drive up his prices? Interesting thought but risky. The art market still seems strong but what if a number of works don't sell? Bad for Damien and bad for all the leftover inventory at White Cube. I'll certainly be watching closely.
And if it is a failure and people start dumping work, I still want a medicine cabinet!
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