Webb’s set to sell work by bad boy Brit artist Damien Hirst

Webb’s is pleased to offer the opportunity to acquire an iconic image of world famous ‘good guy’ of the cartoon world, Mickey Mouse, by the world famous ‘bad boy’ of British art, Damien Hirst.

Hirst, born in England, emerged as a ‘Young British Artist’ in the late 1990s with contemporaries Tracey Emin, Sarah Lucas and Jake and Dinos Chapman. Known for his provocative and impressive artworks, he has exhibited pieces with animals preserved in formaldehyde, diamond encrusted skulls and a full-scale room of pharmaceuticals. In September 2008, Hirst defied the norm and chose to auction a complete solo exhibition, Beautiful Inside My Head Forever, at Sotheby’s, the auction was incredibly successful and achieved over $200million NZD, becoming the most expensive single-artist auction ever.

Mickey (screenprint), is expected to sell at Webb’s with an upper estimate of $150,000, the work is a limited-edition print modelled after the iconic Mickey (2012) painting. In 2012 Disney invited Hirst to create a work inspired by Mickey Mouse, and he produced a glossy colourful painting that combined the fun and energy of Mickey with his own Spot painting series.

“The thing about Mickey is that even though he’s gone through so many shifts in form and association, he’s timeless. In a way he means the same in the 21st century as he did decades ago… I love that the imagery is so powerful that it only takes twelve different coloured dots to create something so instantly recognisable”
- Damien Hirst, quoted in Christies Essay, 2014

The Mickey painting was auctioned in aid of charity Kids Company in 2014 and sold for just under $2million NZD. The work was so well received that Hirst chose to make it available as a limited edition screenprint at a comparable scale.

The screenprint offered by Webb’s was gifted by Hirst to the original owner, who worked as a screenprinter in London for the print company K2, printers for Hirst’s own editioning company Other Criteria.

Charles Ninow, Head of Art at Webb’s, commented:

“It’s incredibly exciting to see a work like this here in New Zealand. Only a very small number of these were released worldwide and they sold out very quickly. It was only by sheer chance that one ended up on our fair shores.

Damien Hirst is one of the world’s top-selling contemporary artists and since publishing our catalogue, we have been receiving international inquiries from all over the place.”

To view all 77 lots in the Works of Art catalogue, visit https://auctions.webbs.co.nz/m/view-auctions/catalog/id/223

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