Tuesday 16 September 2008

Super Shark Sale

Eddie's Shark in the Stuckism International window (2003) A Dead Shark Isn't ArtThe news that yesterday evening at Sotheby's a rich twit threw away £9.6m ($17.2m) on Moneybags Hirst's The Kingdom - a tiger shark in formaldehyde - has prompted Stuckism International to offer the original Eddie Saunders' shark (1989) for the bargain price of £1m (title link). Now hold on, guys. Don't go overboard trying to hook a big daft one. The Daily Mail ordered a shark of its own, to establish the true cost. Staff paid £400 for a properly stuffed shark from a London taxidermist - a shark, like Eddie's, that won't rot - and £150 for a tank to be delivered. Total cost: £550. Note that Charles Saatchi sold his Hirst shark - commissioned for £50,000 - for £6.5m before the rot became obvious (CLICK). So, anyone who pays £9.6m for a carcass that will rot in a few years time shouldn't be let out without an attendant shrink (CLICK). I blame Care in the Community.

2 Comments:

At 16/9/08, Anonymous Anonymous said...

Yeh, but the taxidermist just supplies a shark, whereas the Stuckists are artists, so what they do is art, which in this case is an artwork consisting of a dead shark and titled "A Dead Shark Isn't Art".

 
At 17/9/08, Blogger Unknown said...

Hi, Charles

Are you suggesting that stuffing sharks isn't an art form? That's fighting talk! The thing is, Moneybags doesn't stuff his sharks. He isn't a taxidermist. And he has a team of people to fill his tanks with preservative that just delays the inevitable by a few years.

I still haven't figured out what he does, except sell the damn things. Maybe he signs the shark somewhere. Better still, when the shark finally decays, a balloon emerges from its rear with a smiley face of Moneybags and the message "Pop!"

 

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