Art As Toxic Investment

Damien Hirst, “Moxisylyte” (2011)

Hundreds of dot paintings from Damien Hirst's workshop are are now on sale at galleries worldwide. (You may remember Hirst's shark.)

Peter Schjeldahl, The New Yorker's art critic, offers potential investors a cautionary comparison:

Just as no law forbids the sale of bundled credit-default swaps on bundled subprime mortgages, no agreed-on aesthetic principle invalidates paintings that are churned out by proxy and then bid up at auction as fungible commodities.

Before their clients plunge into Damien's dots, wealth managers may want to suggest a nice conservative hedge fund.