Damien Hirst Opens Second Shop. Bloomberg’s Scott Reyburn reports Damien Hirst is defying the slump in UK consumer spending by opening a second shop in London. “Other Criteria”, the UK artist’s publishing and merchandising company, started the store this week at Fourteen Hinde Street in the Marylebone district. It sells works including some by Hirst himself ranging from his keyrings at five dollars to prints showing pills on mirror glass shelves, from an edition of 125, at fifty-eight thousand dollars each. The first branch of Other Criteria opened in October in Bond Street next to Sotheby’s. Next week the Marylebone store will be launching a limited-edition resin sculpture by UK artist Sarah Lucas and French poet and artist Olivier Garbay.

Damien Hirst’s “Other Criteria” Hinde Street interior

Damien Hirst’s “Other Criteria” Hinde Street interior

Art Stores Volume 2, Bloomberg’s Scott Reyburn reports that the Stuckists have opened their own online store, Redragtoabull.com, selling objects inspired by or to parody Damien Hirst works.

Quick update March 10. 2009, after receiving a letter from a representative of L-13 regarding The “Red Rag To A Bull” site, it looks like the Bloomberg article by Scott Reyburn contains some misinformation; ‘ Jamie Reid, James Cauty and Billy Childish are not Stuckists and the red rag to a bull website is not a stuckist site. It is an invention of the L-13 Light Industrial Workshop which is a direct descendant of the recently deceased aquarium L-13 gallery.’ Even Wikipedia (should have known better) comes up with incorrect information. That said, all of the ‘usual suspects’ listed above are not Stuckist’s but part of a project for “L-13 Light Industrial Workshop and Private Ladies and Gentlemen’s Club for Art, Leisure and the Disruptive Betterment of Culture.” As stated on the site, “The appeal was focused on the Hirst vs Cartrain episode, it was intended to be a creative exercise that mocked and exposed the idiocy an overbearing and thoughtless approach to copyright control that creates fear and censorship in the arts. It was and is not a critical crusade against Damien Hirst as an artist or the nature and degree of his success”. Hmmm…I though Billy Childish started “The Stuckists”…anyone?

Stuckists Jamie Reid (who designed graphics for the punk band the Sex Pistols), James Cauty (1/2 The KLF and co-founder of The Orb) , and Billy Childish (artist, author, poet, photographer, film maker, singer and guitarist i.e. Thee Headcoats) have produced a range of prints “recreated from random pixels found on the Interwebs” and other products satirizing Hirst’s diamond skull, pieces by the Chapman Brothers, and work by the urban artist D*Face. According to the website, the store offers “an exact copy of an image similar to an image of Hirst’s For the Love of God,” from a numbered edition of thirteen thousand, priced at approximately eighteen dollars. All of this prompted by Hirst who sued a 16 year old who “appropriated” Hirst’s “Diamond Skull” into collage and graffiti work. The artist was notified that he infringed Damien Hirst’s copyright on the title of the work (For the Love of God) and that he was to forfeit £200 in fees and the artworks, see: Hirst demands share of artist’s £65 copies.

All of the works available on The Stuckists site are for sale and once TWENTY MILLION POUNDS has been raised ALL the proceeds will go to make an exact copy of a sculpture known as “For the Love of God”. This will then be sold for FIFTY MILLION POUNDS and the THIRTY MILLION POUND profit will then be used to repay the Street Urchin his 200 quid, help other Street Urchins and also feed starving children in Africa and Sussex.

For the Love of Disruptive Strategies and Utopian Visions in Contemporary Art and Culture No.2 – Ltd Edition Print see (Damien Hirst demands share of artist’s £65 copies 16-year-old’s stencil designs fall foul of multi-millionaire artist) An exact copy of Cartrain’s collage, painstakingly recreated and improved by James Cauty from random pixels found on the interweb. 30.5cm x 42cm giclee (inkjet) print on enhanced matt art paper. Numbered Edition of 13 Signed with a very poor imitation of Cartrain’s signature in silver ink on the front and by the real artist on the back.

*Via jonnodotcom: God save the Damien Hirst rip-off industry! (The Independent). Now, I’m thinking that Pop will definitely eat itself i.e. Eugenio Merinos’ humorous Hirst parody.