Damien Hirst is a highly renowned artist and a member of YBA’s (Young British Artists). According to Wikipedia he ‘has been claimed to be the richest living artist to date’. His art carries a theme of death, such as his famous series, The Physical Impossibility of Death in the Mind of Someone Living, which involved the dead bodies of animals, such as a tiger shark, sheep and a cow preserved in formaldehyde.
In 2007, Hirst created the sculpture “For the Love of God”, a piece that according to Wikipedia was apparently inspired by his mother after she asked “For the love of God, what are you going to do next?”
It is a platinum-cast of a human skull covered 8,601 diamonds including large pink diamond on the forehead. Everything is covered except for the human teeth.
Held at the White Cube gallery, this piece cost fourteen million pounds ($30.4m NZD) to make and was sold for fifty million pounds ($108m NZD), which makes it the most expensive art ever made.
The ideas behind this work have a direct link to the Renaissance concepts of Mercantillism and the (increased) status of the artist.
According to The Columbia Encyclopedia, Mercantilism is an economic system that involved increasing exports in return for bullion, because it was in universal demand. This led to people linking money with wealth.
This showed in the art world through conspicuous consumption being the main theme, even in ‘religious’ paintings.
Hirst’s sculpture shares this theme due to the amazingly expensive, luxurious, and at least controversial (if not tasteless) use of diamonds.
This piece works because of his status as an artist.
Richard Dorment from the daily telegraph stated "If anyone but Hirst had made this curious object, we would be struck by its vulgarity.”
Hirst has made a brand of himself that adds status and value to his work. Without this he would not have been able to make the artwork, nor would it sell with such success as it has done.
References:
Photo - http://www.actsstudios.com/ACTS_Studios/images//damienhirstpa_450x300.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst
http://www.geekologie.com/2007/06/damien_hirsts_for_the_love_of.php
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Love_of_God
The Columbia Encyclopedia, Sixth Edition (2005) Mercantalism
To add to the theme of death in this Skull crusted with diamonds, I liked the way Damien linked the use of fine cut diamonds onto the Cast skull with the idea "death". The amount of diamonds he used is a huge amount and expensive, relating to mercantilism and the increased status of Damien, this makes this artwork "precious". In life, our head, skull and brain is our most precious asset of life.
ReplyDeleteWithout it, we would be useless, but to hold this expensive value, Damien expresses it with a skull covered with precious jewels.