Critics are Coming Out and Confessing a Love of Hirst

From Jonathan Jones‘s Guardian blog:

Vulgar, trite, hilarious, compassionate, monstrous and gargantuan – Hirst’s idea of art is generous and voracious. There’s an appetite for life in his work – even when that takes the form of an appetite for money. For The Love of God, his diamond skull, remains the most haunting work by a young(ish) artist for ages. The zebra, the best thing at Sothebys, is equally weird and wonderful.

Damien Hirst is more interesting than any other artist of his (my) generation. His flaws are part of his bizarre humanity, as an artist. Will that all vanish if this sale is a failure? Er, no. Do artists have the right to sell their own work? Er, yes. So it seems this is not the end of the art world, after all.

The London Evening Standard gives a tour of Hirst’s top collectors:

The largest collector of his work, Hirst reveals, is “probably” François Pinault, the billionaire French businessman who owns Gucci, the Chateau Latour vineyard, and Sotheby’s great rival Christies; and has in his collection “about 45” Hirst works. Hirst owns a great deal, and in 2003 bought back 12 early pieces sold to his first great patron Charles Saatchi. The Ukrainian billionaire Victor Pinchuk has been buying steadily since 2000; the designer Miuccia Prada and the art-loving City trader Robert Tibbles own a substantial number. Elton John has a few and David Beckham owns one. “Well, his missus does. ‘Er indoors. He bought her one as a birthday present.”

Even My Signature’s Worth £200. Does that Make Me the New Picasso? (London Evening Standard)

Jonathan Jones on Art (The Guardian)