Even star artists are not insulated from the effects of the spreading global financial crisis it seems, as British artist Damien Hirst announced that his company will be shedding jobs in response to the economic downturn, the Guardian reported on Saturday.

Hirst, 43, who sold a whole collection of works in September for a sum of 111 million pounds (US$164 million), has told 17 workers who make the “pills” for the artist’s drug-cabinet series, that their contracts will not be renewed. It is thought that this represents around half of the artists who work for Hirst in London, producing his pill cabinet and butterfly painting works under his supervision. Hirst has been frequently criticized for his production-line approach.

Prior to the Sotheby’s auction sale in September, Hirst was valued by the Sunday Times Rich List to be worth 200 million pounds. His employees were thought to be earning around 19,000 pounds a year, the Guardian said.