The London Guardian - May 23, 1996. Artist Damien Hirst sells a painting called Adrenochrome for 32,000 pounds.
https://www.newspapers.com/clip/55773115/damien-hirst-adrenochrome/
Who else has Damien Hirst in their collection? Tony Podesta, of course!
https://www.nga.gov/press/exh/4843.html
https://www.washingtonexaminer.com/weekly-standard/hirst-the-worst
With that, I started to head out of the room. Then, I caught a glimpse of the name "Podesta," wedged under the exhibit description.
That's right, Heather and Tony Podesta, the "super lobbyist," "power collector" couple, owned the whole collection of prints on display.
Tony, brother of Clinton acolyte John Podesta, had married Heather — her third marriage, his second, in 2003. They divorced ten years later.
The duo had acquired hundreds of " awkward" pieces, mostly photography, video installations, and the like. Tony especially enjoyed works "with in-your-face nudity and social critique."
One such work, Soliloquy VII , hung proudly in the Podesta's living room during a fundraiser for Hillary Clinton's senatorial campaign. For the entire event, the would-be senator very carefully avoided the 8-foot photo, which featured a naked man lying down, feet facing the camera, so as not to be snapped with it. Bad optics, you see.
The pair's wardrobe, like their art taste, was flamboyant and eye-catching. He wore red loafers; she, print dresses and high-high heels. "The pope wears Prada," Mr. Podesta once told the New York Times. "And so do I."
Neither did the couple feel any shame about their lobbying shops — which maintained clients like Egyptian dictator Hosni Mubarak. To prove the point, in the face of Obama's lobbyist bashing in 2008, the Podestas flaunted a Scarlet "L" on their lapels at the Democratic convention in Denver.
With an equal amount of pride, they have thrust their collection of Hirst prints before the public eye—only to have them relegated to a corner of Washington's premier art museum.