Hirst cuts out the middleman

The art world is about to be turned on its head. Damien Hirst has just revealed that in September he will sell dozens of new formaldehyde sculptures, drawings and paintings straight from his studio to auction at Sotheby's in London, cutting out the traditional art dealer/collector axis.

Hirst, 43, is offering enough works to warrant two dedicated sales at Sotheby's, who made him £4m when they sold off work that had formally been on display at Hirst's restaurant Pharmacy in 2004. At the time, the artist had been reluctant to do this. "As an artist, you want to stay clear of the auction houses," he said. "It's like going to a second-hand shop to buy your clothes."

The highlight of the two-day auctions will be The Golden Calf, a monumental sculpture of a bull in formaldehyde in a gold-plated stainless steel and glass box. His head is crowned by a solid gold disc and his hooves and horns are cast in gold. The estimated price is £8 to £12 million - which at the higher end would break Hirst's previous record at auction.

Cheyenne Westphal, Sotheby's contemporary art expert, gushes: "The new work is not a departure from what we know about Damien's work but it's very much new developments. I've seen the work and I know how exciting this is."

What his long-term dealer and friend, Jay Jopling at White Cube, makes of this is unknown. Hirst, whose wealth is conservatively estimated to be £100m, had already chipped away at his commission: most artists usually surrender 50 per cent of any works sold, but in recent times Hirst was said to be giving Jopling less than 20 per cent, a move that lost him millions in revenue.