According to Estates Gazette, the real estate magazine, artist Damien Hirst is to open his first art shop in Marylebone, London.
Known as Other Criteria, the store is to sell artwork, T-shirts, postcards, plates and books featuring the artist's work.
The London Evening Standard reports that
Among the Hirst items on sale will be an 18-carat gold charm bracelet featuring different types of pills as the charms. It costs £250,000, while a set of 12 plates decorated by the artist costs £10,000.
A key reason for the venture, according to one of the directors of the new retail company is that
Art has to be experienced and the shop is where people can experience it in a democratic atmosphere rather than a West End gallery.
In an age in which Kate Moss designs clothing for Topshop and pitched battles mark the opening of sales at Primark, it feels right for the avant-garde to see the shop floor as the contemporary Palace Square.
Even better, Hirst's diversification suggests a total revision of the history of art - as a canon of artists as unfulfilled shopkeepers, not angst-ridden expressionists.
Duchamp doing bathroom fittings.
Fragonard retailing cosmetics.
And Caravaggio doing Pinot Grigio - with a personal shopper service downstairs devoted to Colt Leather.
