March 30 (Bloomberg) -- Damien Hirst, who is completing a $100 million sculpture for a June show, is filling the coffers of dealers Gagosian, White Cube and Paul Stolper as fast as his art factory can turn out masterpieces.

Hirst's platinum skull encrusted with 8,500 diamonds may cost about $20 million to make and will be priced at more than five times that at London's White Cube, said Frank Dunphy, the artist's business manager. Even a small percentage as a commission is big money for the gallery.

The U.K. artist's show in Beverly Hills, which drew California Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger to the Feb. 22 opening, sold about 30 butterfly pictures at $1 million to $2.5 million, Gagosian said. London's Stolper has sold about 60 percent of a $20 million supply of Hirst religious symbols in 18 months.

``The prices that Hirst generates and the volume of his work probably make him one of the most potentially profitable artists for dealers,'' said Stolper. ``He's quite a prolific artist and he has a great demand for his works.''

Hirst, 41, became one of the most expensive living artists when hedge-fund manager Steven Cohen bought his shark in a tank from Charles Saatchi for $8 million in 2005. The artist employs about 80 people in studios and administration, having added 30 staffers to handle upcoming shows, said spokeswoman Jude Tyrrell. Assistants help create art ranging from medicine cabinets to pickled animals to butterflies stuck in gloss paint.

On Par With Picasso

A sale of the platinum skull for more than $100 million would put Hirst on a price level with Pablo Picasso and Gustav Klimt, dead artists who produced some of the 20th century's most famous works.

``Damien is the biggest dollar earner of any artist living or dead in the U.K.,'' Dunphy said in an interview. Hirst, who sometimes wears a leather jacket decorated with a spangled skull, wouldn't comment for this article.

Born in Bristol, England, he joined the Sunday Times Rich List in 2006 with an estimated fortune of 100 million pounds ($197 million). He follows the methods of Andy Warhol, who died in 1987, and Rembrandt van Rijn, who died in 1669. Both turned their studios into assembly lines to meet and fuel demand for their art.

Hirst's works have appeared nine times at Gagosian galleries in 24 months, including three big shows, according to Gagosian's Web site. Jeff Koons, whose cracked egg sculpture was bought at Gagosian by Eli Broad last year, and Richard Prince have had two exhibition listings each since early 2005. Cy Twombly, Mike Kelley and Ed Ruscha have each had four.

Overtaking Gagosian

While dealers often take half the proceeds from a gallery sale, some top artists get 70 percent or more, said dealers and other art experts. Dunphy, Stolper and Gagosian gallery wouldn't say how Hirst divides the money, though the growing number of his gallery shows is proof of his commercial appeal. Dealers also make money trading art that isn't shown at their galleries.

Larry Gagosian, who has six U.S. and U.K. galleries and lists more than 80 artists on his Web site, wouldn't comment for this article. He was ranked the most powerful person in the art world by ArtReview magazine in 2004. Hirst placed first and Gagosian second in 2005.

The Beverly Hills show, ``Superstition,'' opened before the Academy Awards, and may have fetched $40 million or more, based on price ranges and collectors' estimates. Gagosian's guests at a dinner for Hirst at Mr. Chow included rock star Courtney Love, film producer Harvey Weinstein and supermodel Linda Evangelista, according to photographs on Patrick McMullan Co.'s Web site.

Four pictures from the show, made of butterfly wings arranged in patterns resembling stained-glass windows, are hanging at Gagosian's Davies Street gallery in London through April 5. On one, some butterfly wings are coming loose under the glass, showing the fragility of some Hirst creations. They can be fixed, Tyrrell said.

Deus ex Pharma

Stolper sold 10 out of 13 cabinets of Hirst paraphernalia, priced at 350,000 pounds each, along with other works, at a series of shows called ``New Religion'' in London and Moscow, he said. The art is currently in All Hallows on the Wall church, which will hold a service on April 4 among the skulls and crucifixes before they're removed. They go to Venice in June.

Hirst's crosses and pills ``comment on the old religion and the new religion of modern medicine'' and don't seem to endorse either one, said Canon Garth Hewitt at the March 6 opening of the church exhibition.

The artist is also working on a commission that could run to $10 million or more for an autumn show at Lever House in Manhattan, real-estate developer Aby Rosen said. The exhibition may include Hirst classics such as sheep in formaldehyde, a shark and medicine cabinets, said Rosen. ``With Hirst, you never know what you're getting.''

Hirst, who is renovating a mansion in England's Cotswolds to create an art museum, enriches auction houses too. Auction sales of his works shot up 84 percent last year, to about $16.9 million, almost level with Koons, said data service Artprice.com.

To contact the reporter on this story: Linda Sandler in London at lsandler@bloomberg.net.

Last Updated: March 30, 2007 03:40 EDT