Damien Hirst's sale breaks auction records

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The British artist's "The Golden Calf", a bull in a tank of formaldehyde with its head crowned by a gold disc, sold for 10.35 million pounds, a record at auction for one of the contemporary art world's most bankable stars, Sotheby's said.

The Hirst auction came after Sotheby's and Christie's, the world's top auction houses, raised more than $1 billion (558 million pounds) in London art sales this summer - and was held the same day the fourth largest U.S. investment bank collapsed.

Auction houses have been appealing to "recession-proof" buyers in the Middle East and Russia, where record oil prices have boosted already massive fortunes, along with the super-rich in emerging economies such as India.

"I think the market is bigger than anyone knows. I love art and this proves I'm not alone, and the future looks great for everyone!" said Hirst.

The 43-year-old artist stunned the art world when he said 223 new works would be auctioned by Sotheby's in the first mass sale of its kind by a major artist.

By taking them straight to an auction house, Hirst is cutting out the art galleries that he says take an "extortionate" amount of the proceeds, or up to 50 percent.

Works on offer in the two-day sale, called "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever", were created over the past two years.

The 70.55 million pound total for Monday evening surpassed the high estimate of 62.3 million pounds and the previous record for an auction by a single artist - $32 million raised in 1993 at the sale of 88 paintings by Picasso.

TIGER SHARK

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