Damien Hirst has a selling spree in Delhi
Some observers in Delhi feared that Hirst may have saturated the market

Rhys Blakely in Bombay From The Times | September 2, 2008

Damien Hirst's latest attempt to push back the boundaries of art has sparked allegations that the British artist is attempting to offload "a mountain of unsold works" in India.

One of the most celebrated sculptors, painters -- and salesmen -- of his generation, Hirst gave his first show in the subcontinent last week to mixed reviews.

The Economic Times, India's most influential business newspaper, set the tone with a critique of the artist's decision not to travel to Delhi, where the landmark exhibition was held. "Hirst's brusque and hurried recorded message of 'Hi everyone, I am too busy to come to India' smacked of indolence and arrogance more than a friendly chatter," it suggested.

India's art aficionados were more vexed, however, by suggestions that Hirst dispatched his work in their direction only after saturating the established capitols of the global art scene.

"Did international auction house Sotheby's bring famed contemporary artist Damien Hirst's works to India because a 'mountain' of unsold works lies in wait in London?" one of India's leading news agencies asked.

The same question is on the lips of many in the art world amid mounting suggestions that Hirst, who like Andy Warhol before him employs scores of staff to help produce his work, is battling his own prolificacy.

A fortnight ago the artist said that he would stop producing the "spin" and "butterfly" paintings that are among his most lucrative works – an announcement greeted with relief by investors.

"Some people were beginning to talk about when this level of production was going to stop," London dealer Ivor Braka, who spent nearly $6 million on Hirst work at a single sale in February, told Bloomberg, the financial news service. "We now know these works are finite."

However, fears of a glut of Hirst ephemera were re-stoked just days later when The Art Newspaper, a trade publication, claimed that White Cube, the London gallery, is holding more than 200 paintings and sculptures by Hirst, valued at more than £100 million.

The items include 34 butterfly paintings dating back to 2005 and six medicine cabinets with price tags of up to £2.5 million each.

Also among the unsold works were Love's Paradox, a cow split in half and preserved in formaldehyde with a price tag of £4.5 million. Indian art critics noted this weekend that the installation is probably ill-suited to their home market, dominated as it is by Hindus for whom cows are sacred.

White Cube has disputed the £100 million figure. The gallery said that the sum included work promised to the gallery but not yet produced and insisted that its Hirst inventory was "normal".

But suggestions of oversupply come at a sensitive time. Hirst's Indian show was organised in partnership with Sotheby's, the auction house, with which he recently cut an unprecedented business deal.

The tie-up between artist and auctioneer means that the artist will effectively attempt to sell £65 million worth of art directly to the public at auction in London later this month at a sale entitled Beautiful Inside My Head Forever. The arrangement means that the dealers who have traditionally marketed Hirst's work – taking a cut of up to 40 per cent -- have been cut out, a move unprecedented for an artist of his stature.

Hirst has suggested that his reinvention of the art market represents a work of art in itself. Others have accused him of the shabby treatment of longstanding business partners shabbily and of staging "an end-of-boom fire sale".

It is far from the first time that Hirst has demonstrated his aptitude in courting controversy -- a skill that has been one of the cornerstones of his career. Last year the artist generated headlines around the world by selling a skull encrusted with diamonds for £50 million. It was later reported that he was part of the investment group that bought it.

Meanwhile, whatever India's meaner critics say, Sotheby's is insisting that the reception given to Hirst's work in Delhi was "extraordinarily enthusiastic". Making the event a success was crucial: India is home to the fastest growing pool of dollar millionaires in the world (125,000 and rising) as well as four of the world's ten richest billionaires, and is likely to drive much of the global art scene in years to come.

The auctioneer added that Hirst was unable to attend the Delhi event because he is overseeing the installation of 223 of his works at the auction house's headquarters in Bond Street – his largest exhibition yet.

It also dismissed any and all concerns over stockpiles. Oliver Barker, a specialist in contemporary art from the company said: "It's like an oil refinery having oil stocks—that's not a bad thing."