Urban Art Association

Bottom falls out of contemporary art market, by silvermyn on Nov 12, 2008 12:57:47 GMT 1, DAMIEN HIRST'S 14ft-wide spot painting Ethionamide failed to reach its reserve price of $850,000 at Sotheby's in New York last night, underlining the parlous state of the contemporary art market.

"Lot 53, the first of the Damien Hirsts," cried auctioneer Tobias Meyer. Not a single eye was lifted or arm raised. "$850,000, then," repeated Mr Meyer, sadly - "passed!"

Hirst was just one of two dozen wounded as Sotheby's saw about a third wiped off the values of the world's senior living artists in a single sale.

Sotheby's hoped for $202 million for its 63-lot auction; it got $125 million, a sale total last realised in November 2006. It sold 36 of the artworks for prices under low estimate and failed to sell 20 of them at all. The near vertical price climb of 2007-08 turned into a near-vertical descent.

"Art's been a safe refuge for money in the US and UK for four years," lamented a Bond Street dealer at the sale. "That's all over because there's almost no money left to seek refuge." Masterpieces did best. One of the most desirable of Yves Klein's light blue abstracts, Archisponge of 1961, fetched $21,362,500, six million dollars short of hope but still a thumping new record for a picture off the market for three decades.

Nor did bidders miss the chance to pay high - $5,458,500 - for the most ambitious and erotic nude painting by John Currin to come to auction. Nice N'Easy, painted in the American's Botticelli-like Old Master manner, showed two girls patting each other's bodies after posing for The Three Graces.

Roy Lichtenstein's Interior with Red Wall was asking for $10 million but nobody stirred among the 1,100 bidders in the packed saleroom. It eventually sold for $7,026,500.