From ARTINFO.com

NEW YORK—In 2012, the year of the Mayan apocalypse, an outbreak of spots is going to spread across the world. And Damien Hirst is to blame.

That’s right, next January the Gagosian Gallery will mount simultaneous shows of the YBA’s “spot” paintings in of its 11 outposts around the globe, displaying the complete collection of the works produced between 1986 and 2011. Only about half of the collection will be for sale, with the rest on loan.

It will mark the beginning of a gargantuan comeback attempt by the artist, whose Tate Modern retrospective opening in April — which will coincide with the 2012 Summer Olympics in London — will allow crowds to take in the full breadth of work by the former bad-boy artist. His output in recent years has been overtaken by his evidently growing obsession with the art market — a market he became synonymous with after his $200 million one-man Sotheby’s sale in 2008.

Hirst claims to have been batting around the idea of a major spot  retrospective of his spot paintings for a long time …  read more.