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Here is UK's wealthiest (living) artist, Damien Hirst. He recently held a public auction during two days (September 15-16 2008) selling 223 works in an auction titled "Beautiful Inside My Head Forever" (bypassing his art dealers and selling direct to the public) where he earned more than £70m, above its high estimate of £62m. The headlining auction lot is Hirst's "The Golden Calf", which is one his formaldehyde animal sculptures. The Golden Calf's hooves and horns are cast in 18-carat gold, and there is a distinctive solid gold disc above its head. The Golden Calf lot sold for £10.3m, a record for the artist at auction. "The Kingdom", one of Mr Hirst's signature tiger shark formaldehyde works, sold for £9.6m. The artist didn't attend the auction as he considers it "too stressful". 20,000 members of the public attended the viewing.

Damien Hirst, 43, is already one of the best-selling modern artists in the world. Last year he sold a platinum cast skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds for £50 million, which is thought to be the world's most expensive piece of contemporary art.

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