The Independent profiles Polly Morgan and tells the story of her market rise

In the past few years, Polly Morgan has secured her place as one of the most important – and collectable – artists of her generation, and a leader in the next generation of YBAs. One of her first professional works – a white rat curled-up in a champagne glass – was snapped up by Richard Branson’s sister, Vanessa, for £2,000 hours before it was due to be exhibited at Zoo Art Fair.

That was in 2005; the following year she made a lasting impression on some of the art scene’s most powerful players, including Gagosian director Mollie Dent-Brocklehurst and Damien Hirst, […] there is a quiet, haunting quality to her work, which has captured the attention of serious collectors including Charles Saatchi, and amateur enthusiasts, among them Kate Moss and Courtney Love, alike. Should you fancy a piece of Morgan for yourself, ordinarily, this will set you back between £8,000 and £30,000 a pop. If you’re lucky. Morgan’s largest creation to date sold to Thomas Olbricht for a whopping £85,000, and now hangs in the entrance to his gallery, me Collectors Room, in Berlin. […]

she received her first commission. It was to create a couple of pieces for display at the launch of a new restaurant called Bistrotheque. She came up with a series of stuffed animals in bell-jars (a magpie with a jewel in its beak, some chicks perched on a miniature coffin…) which the restaurant ended up buying for £350 each. […] Morgan was soon approached by Banksy, although she didn’t know who she was talking to at the time. Banksy was extremely curious about her work and asked her how much she’d sell one of her pieces for: “I had no idea what to say so I plucked the figure £900 from this air.” A few months down the line, Morgan bumped into Banksy again – this time while she was exhibiting at Zoo Art Fair in 2005 – and agreed to make something for his show, Santa’s Ghetto. She showed a bell-jar filled with two birds perched on a crucifix and bedecked with lights. Soon the demand for her work was such that Morgan had to quit her job to have enough time to make it all. Today, she says, she still feels like something of an impostor, as if she “fell into this role by accident”. She’s still reticent to describe herself as “an artist”. The facts speaks otherwise. Today Morgan can command as much as £100,000 for a piece.

Death becomes her: Meet Polly Morgan, Britart’s hottest property (The Independent)