Artists Donate Work to Benefit Global AIDS Fund

Last year, artist Damien Hirst sold a skull piece, entitled “For the love of God,” covered by 8,601 pave-set diamonds for $100-million. This year, on February 14 at Sotheby’s in New York, Mr. Hirst expects to fetch up to $13-million through the sale of seven of his works for the Product (Red) auction, reports The Wall Street Journal.

The money raised by Mr. Hirst and the donated works of other artists will go toward the Global Fund to Fight AIDS, Tuberculosis, and Malaria.

Mr. Hirst explains that in the beginning of his career as an artist, “I tried to do everything I was asked to do.” As demand for his time and work grew, Mr. Hirst found it more valuable to work with a few specific charities, such as Survival, Kids Co., and Strummerville, that “raise money for deprived kids with musical backgrounds.”

For charities such as Kids Co., which “runs hand to mouth,” Mr. Hirst says he will “just give them cash to tide them over” if he is unable to donate works.

“In the art world, you can forget,” Mr. Hirst warns. “At these heady heights with so much money around, you can forget what a massive difference that kind of money can make to people who do without. Or at least you can forget if you’re not careful.”

Mr. Hirst personally contacted about 50 other artists to donate works for the auction and received positive responses from roughly 90 percent of them, he says. He adds that while money, art, and philanthropy may continue to have a bumpy relationship, “I like the idea that you can do things that can make a difference, rather than just do it out of guilt.”