The Art Newspaper suggests there is a concerted effort among Hirst’s dealers to help gather information on every Spot painting Hirst’s studio ever made for the upcoming global Spotrospective taking place at Gagosian in January of next year. According to the Art Newspaper, other arms of the Hirst empire, including his company, Other Criteria, and London gallery, White Cube, are gathering intel on the Spots.

Although curiosity centers around discovering the exact number of Spot paintings produced, and thus a sense of the size of the Spot market, several dealers acknowledge that the supply of Spots has tended to generate a demand of its own:

 “Everyone wants what everyone else has,” said London dealer Kenny Schachter, who sells Hirst on the secondary market. The spots are now selling in locations across the world, including the Gulf states and Asia. “If there were fewer, they would be less desirable,” Schachter said.

Dealers say that most collectors prefer Hirst’s earlier spot paintings. At auction the highest prices paid for spot works has been for those from 1998, 1993 and 1994. The highest price was £1.8m for a 1998 huge work with a title to match: 3 -(5-chloro-2-hydroxphenylazo)- 4, 5-dihydroxy-2, 7-naphthalenedisulfonic acid, which hung for five years in a New York restaurant.

Seeing Spots (The Art Newspaper)