a US art collective cuts up $30K painting and sells each piece for $480 for profit of $12K
https://www.cnn.com/style/article/damien-hirst-mschf-severed-spots/index.html
A $30K Damien Hirst was cut up -- and the pieces are selling for seven times as much
Published 30th April 2020
After cutting a $30,000 Damien Hirst print into pieces, a US art collective is on course to sell the individual parts for more than seven times what it originally paid.
New York-based group MSCHF recently purchased a signed copy of one of the artist's famous spotted paintings, "L-Isoleucine T-Butyl Ester," then proceeded to cut out each of the 88 dots by hand and sell them separately for $480.
This alone generated a profit of around $12,000 -- and with bids for the leftover white paper now reaching over $172,000, the group is set to significantly increase the total value of the work.
The colored spots, which were each signed on the reverse by MSCHF, sold out in under 38 seconds, the collective said. What remains of the artwork, which includes Hirst's signature and is listed on the project's website as "Spotless Painting," is open to online bids until early next week.
An Art Collective Cut Up a $30,000 Damien Hirst Spot Print. The Leftover Bits of Paper Just Sold for $261,000