I find it interesting that a backlog of about 200 works by Damien Hirst can be news. He’s the closest thing we have to a Britney Spears in the art world, with the media looking for any excuse to publish a story on the man (I realize I do it too). All the art world needs now is some art celebrity sex tapes and some police mug shots of artists that have misbehaved. I would probably subscribe to an art gossip magazine if it was cheap.

Anyway, what was I talking about? I have the flu and I’m taking lots of evil tablets from big pharmaceutical companies, so sticking to the point can be challenging.

The Times Online has reported on Hirst’s “mountainous backlog” of more than 200 works by the artist and his production line sitting in the White Cube gallery in London.

“The items include 34 butterfly paintings dating back to 2005; six medicine cabinets with price tags of up to £2.5m and a batch of 25 fly and resin coated skulls. The “Hirst mountain” held by the White Cube gallery, and detailed in next month’s issue of The Art Newspaper, shows the challenges of selling mass-produced art.” Times Online

In a later Bloomberg report, White Cube’s Jay Jopling said that their stock level for Hirst was normal and the gallery is NOT sitting on a “mountain” of Hirst works.

Jopling said “The appetite for Damien’s art is such that we never have enough and I’m always keen to have as much work on consignment as possible. The market for Hirst was strong and suggestions to the contrary were based on redundant documents.”

It’ll be interesting to see how much more we hear of Damien Hirst as his big auction at Sotheby’s draws closer. I’ll be disappointed if it doesn’t make the 6 o’clock news.

Update: There’s an interesting Damien Hirst interview (video) with Tim Marlow on the Sotheby’s website here.
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