Remember how Damien Hirst said he’d never make his meh dot paintings again, forcing their market value to skyrocket? Remember how he then went psyche! and started making dots again, showing them off at 11 simultaneous exhibits in all of the Gagosian galleries? Here’s his latest nifty hustle. If you manage to visit all 11 shows before they close, Hirst will personally give you spots, ahem — “a signed spot print by Damien Hirst, dedicated personally to you.” You have a month to jet set from Hong Kong to Athens to Paris to New York. Go. [ANY via DI, related]
art
Don’t Tucker Yourselves Out On This One Because Next Up Is The “Take A Picture Of Yourself Posing Lewdly With Every One Of Hirst’s ‘Animal-in-Formaldehyde’ Pieces” Challenge
By Bess Levin
Does anyone have anything they’d like to say to Jon Corzine but have had a difficult time getting in touch? You’re in luck. Geoffrey Raymond, the artist who’s done everyone from Jimmy Cayne, Dick Fuld, Alan Greenspan (collectively known as “The Greats”) to Lloyd Blankfein, Ben Bernanke and, most recently, Lenny Dykstra, has a new painting out. Titled “Corzine Agonistes,” it appears to be Raymond’s commentary on Corzine’s life post-MF Global, in which he develops eczema and gets a bowl cut. But it’s not finished without your help. Continue reading »
The fund run by Paulson & Co. has purchased a loan to American-art specialist Berry-Hill Galleries for about $10 million, as well as the mortgage on the gallery’s property in an elegant townhouse near the Frick Collection, according to public records and people familiar with the matter…The involvement of the fund, Paulson Credit Opportunities Master Ltd., has in effect rescued the gallery from a precarious position. [WSJ]
The last several years have not been the greatest in the life and times of Jim Cramer-endorsed investor Lenny K. Dykstra. The bumps are too numerous to mention in full but include: falling on money troubles so serious that he was no longer able to fly private, having his beloved mansion foreclosed on, leaving the place “pockmarked with torn up flooring, missing toilets and holes in the walls,” filing for Chapter 11 bankruptcy, living in his car, suing JPMorgan for “predatory lending practices,” dropping his suit against JPMorgan, invoking the ire of a hooker to whom he wrote a bad check, and being indicted on bankruptcy fraud and obstruction of justice charges. The latest setback, which could result in 80 years behind bars for LD, was pretty tough to take, as it will presumably make the timeline for his “comeback” a bit longer (although LD, bless his heart, says that not only is he “back” but that he’s worth hundreds of millions of dollars, at this moment in time). Rather than wallow in sadness, however, we decided to pull ourselves (and yourselves and LD) out of this emotional hole by celebrating the life of Nails. In portrait form. Continue reading »
Did A Certain Hedge Fund Manager Have Inside Information About Elizabeth Taylor’s Death?
By Bess Levin
Earlier this week, actress and icon Liz Taylor died of congestive heart failure. She had been sick for since 2006 and few on the outside probably could have predicted when she would go. Which is why some of you cynical assholes will surely feel the need to note the auspicious timing of Steve Cohen agreeing to put his painting of the actress, Liz#5 by Andy Warhol, on the auction block just two weeks before her passing, and suggest the decision resulted from him being tipped off re: when it was going to happen. That’s because you’re all heartless individuals who just don’t get it. Continue reading »
With few exceptions (thinking about how they could do things like buy a random restaurant just to fire the rude waiter who serviced them, having an IHOP built in their bedroom), few things are more satisfying to financiers than buying multi-million dollar pieces of art to hang above their toilets. Every now and then it’s important to recognize who the most important people in this game are; today the Observer has ranked the Top 50 New York buyers who “move the art world.” You’re allowed two guesses as to who comes in at number one but you”ll only need one. Hint: no profile of him shall be written without mentioning that he owns expensive art; his tastes range from Warhols to animals-in-formeldahyde to pieces of ass; if he so much as smells a drop of grease within 200 feet of his pictures he’ll shut down the area and interrogate every suspect; and his greatest gift to the world, upon retirement, will be a self-created multi-media nude, expected to fetch upwards of 9 figures. Continue reading »
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