Damien Hirst

ART Damien Hirst is one of the most controversial yet iconic names in art right now. His droll Pop Art sculptures, "spot" paintings and, famously, his grinning diamond skull engage with questions of death and commerce and pure aesthetics. While they've made him wealthy, some wonder what, exactly he really has to say. See for yourself at this new exhibit of silkscreens, "spot" paintings and his much-liked butterfly-based mixed media work. Ikon, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave. G4, Santa Monica.

ART Damien Hirst is one of the most controversial yet iconic names in art right now. His droll Pop Art sculptures, "spot" paintings and, famously, his grinning diamond skull engage with questions of death and commerce and pure aesthetics. While they've made him wealthy, some wonder what, exactly he really has to say. See for yourself at this new exhibit of silkscreens, "spot" paintings and his much-liked butterfly-based mixed media work. Ikon, Bergamot Station, 2525 Michigan Ave. G4, Santa Monica.

Damien Hirst does not consider himself a serious gambler. He likes to play roulette "because it's easy. " And he tells a story about learning the "fail-safe rules for blackjack" from his London gallerist Jay Jopling, only to lose all of his money at the table within two hours. But when it comes to the art world, Hirst is known for a showy sort of risk-taking, even if at 46 his prime rock-star-style binge partying days are largely behind him. His most famous artworks hinge on a sort of brinkmanship - a shark in formaldehyde anyone?

Damien Hirst does not consider himself a serious gambler. He likes to play roulette "because it's easy. " And he tells a story about learning the "fail-safe rules for blackjack" from his London gallerist Jay Jopling, only to lose all of his money at the table within two hours. But when it comes to the art world, Hirst is known for a showy sort of risk-taking, even if at 46 his prime rock-star-style binge partying days are largely behind him. His most famous artworks hinge on a sort of brinkmanship - a shark in formaldehyde anyone?

Artist Damien Hirst, whose pickled shark sold for $8 million this year, has bought a mansion in the Cotswolds area of western England to create an art museum, a spokeswoman for the artist said. "He intends to house his extensive collection of his own and other artists' work there," Jude Tyrrell said in an e-mail.

British artist Damien Hirst has donated four of his works to the Tate collection, including a replica of his prize-winning installation of bisected cows in formaldehyde, the London museum said Friday. The donation is the first of a series that the 42-year-old Hirst plans to make to the national British art collection as part of a pledge he and 23 other leading artists made in 2004 to give significant works to the museum.

WHEN Prada invited a crowd of 600 to a party at its SoHo store -- and decorated the place with video monitors dripping digital blood set against a wallpaper of skulls, pills, praying hands and hourglasses -- it could mean only one thing: Damien Hirst was in the house.

ARE Damien Hirst's new artworks a soaring tribute to the beauty and fragility of one of nature's most delicate living creatures -- or a bunch of dead bugs? According to the 41-year-old British artist, his huge butterfly wing paintings, which are real butterflies on canvas, are perhaps a little of both. "They're macabre," Hirst observes, sounding not at all displeased.

Damien HIRST is not surprised that people have offered him their bodies to stick in glass cases after they die, like he did with those sheep and rotting cow carcasses and with that shark in formaldehyde that recently sold for $8 million. "Yeah, sure, I've got a whole cabinet for nut cases. Because I attract quite a lot," he says, " 'cause I make strange art."

The biggest home in Los Angeles County is ready for a new nickname: The 56,500-square-foot Manor, dubbed Candyland after owner Candy Spelling, has been sold to another wealthy socialite, British heiress Petra Ecclestone, in an all-cash deal for $85 million. As steep as that price is, it's not a record or even close to what Spelling was asking. The priciest Southland home transaction was the 2000 sale of an 8-acre estate in Bel-Air to financial executive Gary Winnick in a deal that included the trade of other land, for a total value of about $94 million.

Damien Hirst and Jeff Koons, the stars of the art boom, were deposed as auction bestsellers in 2009 as prices for some of their works fell 50%. It may take much of the next decade before their works return to record prices, dealers say. Billionaire collectors shunned "noughties" favorites in the current decade's closing year, preferring 20th century Modernist classics, Art Deco furniture, Old Masters and Chinese artworks. Contemporary-art auction sales dropped 75% this year as sellers were no longer guaranteed minimum prices.

Victor Pinchuk, one of Ukraine's richest men, plans to build a contemporary art center in downtown Kiev, with the hope of making the country's capital a major destination on the global art map. Pinchuk, 48, said in an interview that the new building will be bigger than his existing PinchukArtCentre, the first private center of contemporary art in the former Soviet Union. The new project will also supplement the regular shows already being held at the center that Pinchuk said has had more than 830,000 visitors since it opened in 2006.

ARTIST 1. Eric Fischl was all smiles at LACMA's opening celebration of the Broad Contemporary Art Museum on Feb. 9, where the glitterati -- Tom! Katie! -- came out in droves. But the true VIPs of the night: billionaire philanthropist 2. Eli Broad and wife Edythe, whose $60-million donation gave the Los Angeles County Museum of Art a much-needed home for contemporary art. Guests, decked out in gowns and tuxes, peeped 200 works from postwar artists, including Jeff Koons, Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, and 3. Cindy Sherman, who toasted her inclusion with former Talking Heads frontman David Byrne.

British artist Damien Hirst has donated four of his works to the Tate collection, including a replica of his prize-winning installation of bisected cows in formaldehyde, the London museum said Friday. The donation is the first of a series that the 42-year-old Hirst plans to make to the national British art collection as part of a pledge he and 23 other leading artists made in 2004 to give significant works to the museum.

WHEN Prada invited a crowd of 600 to a party at its SoHo store -- and decorated the place with video monitors dripping digital blood set against a wallpaper of skulls, pills, praying hands and hourglasses -- it could mean only one thing: Damien Hirst was in the house.

The artist Damien Hirst, who is part of an investment group that is buying his diamond-covered skull for $100 million, is branching out into fashion, with a new collection for Levi Strauss & Co. The line Hirst co-designed for the company's spring 2008 Warhol Factory X Levi's X Damien Hirst collection includes jeans decorated with a skull pattern made of Swarovski crystals. Priced at $4,000 a pair, the jeans are the most expensive items in the collection.

Visitors to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art soon will be able to see one of contemporary culture's most startling artworks: Damien Hirst's 13-foot tiger shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde. Its owner, hedge-fund manager and art collector Steven A. Cohen, has lent the work for three years. The 22-ton piece will be on view by Aug. 29. The 1991 work, whose full title is "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," was bought by Cohen for $8 million in 2005.

The artist Damien Hirst, who is part of an investment group that is buying his diamond-covered skull for $100 million, is branching out into fashion, with a new collection for Levi Strauss & Co. The line Hirst co-designed for the company's spring 2008 Warhol Factory X Levi's X Damien Hirst collection includes jeans decorated with a skull pattern made of Swarovski crystals. Priced at $4,000 a pair, the jeans are the most expensive items in the collection.

Visitors to New York's Metropolitan Museum of Art soon will be able to see one of contemporary culture's most startling artworks: Damien Hirst's 13-foot tiger shark suspended in a tank of formaldehyde. Its owner, hedge-fund manager and art collector Steven A. Cohen, has lent the work for three years. The 22-ton piece will be on view by Aug. 29. The 1991 work, whose full title is "The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living," was bought by Cohen for $8 million in 2005.

A stainless-steel cabinet containing 6,136 handcrafted and painted pills has set a record for the highest price paid at auction for a work by a living artist, an auctioneer said. Damien Hirst's "Lullaby Spring" sold Thursday for $19.1 million, auction house Sotheby's said in a statement. The sale propelled Hirst past previous bestseller Jasper Johns, whose "Figure 4" netted about $17 million last month in New York.