Monday, September 03, 2007

Who wants to buy a US$100 million skull?

Wondering what to do with that spare US$100 million in your account, well why don’t you get yourself a diamond encrusted human skull to keep by your bedside.

This is the latest piece of art by the artist Damien Hirst and is considered to be the highest valued work of contemporary art by a living artist. The piece, called the “For the Love of God” is an actual human skull that is covered entirely with 8,601 jewels and with a pear shaped pink diamond as the centre piece.

The skull is believed to be of a 35-year-old European man who had lived between 1720 and 1810. Where ever that guy might be I am guessing that he’s a very happy ghost these days. Hey how many guys can boast that his head is stuffed with diamonds and worth the GDP of a small country? He probably couldn’t sell it off for a few cents in those days. Either that or he’s really pissed. Hope that who ever buys it doesn’t get nightly visits from a headless spook wanting his head back.

Prices of artwork like this are skyrocketing because many consider them good investments. In an earlier post I mentioned about the highest valued painting, a Jackson Pollock worth a cool US$140 million.

Personally I find the whole thing a bit ghastly, not the skull, but the prices some people are wiling to pay for these artworks. It’s not like the artist is even getting a cut, mainly because they are dead now. I too appreciate a good piece of art, but I just think they should be left in museums for all to enjoy. The truth is that these are unique masterpieces born out of the imagination of genius minds and something like that would never be recreated again. However I just don’t get how people can spend these amounts on such frivolous things knowing that somewhere in the world people are dying because they don’t even have the basic necessities to survive. It’s a sad situation, but that’s the reality of things. The rich keeps getting richer and the poor keeps getting poorer.


(Source: www.boingboing.com)

6 comments:

Jack Point said...

Looks rather macabre to me and i'm not really sure if this is really art.

I'm a bit suspicious of some of what passes for "art" nowadays, some of it is fake, more about political statements and shock people than human expression.

Lady divine said...

yuck! a skull??? ooh my...
I dont believe it!!! couldnt he find anything else other than a skull??
But then again, there are people who would like this kind of thing and appreciate it ya.. like you said, some may consider it a good investment too...

Azrael said...

Morbidity is in the eye of the beholder eh?

Another work of this guy is a dead Shark preserved in formaldehyde.

Jackpoint - Yep, art is not what it used to be

Pissu - he he :D can't you just imagine waking up in the morning to face that thing grinning at you :D

Lady D - But then again, there are people who would like this kind of thing and appreciate it ya..
Ehem...yeah like me :D, minus the diamonds...he he

Darwin said...

They could set up a service - "Pimp 'yo skullz"

Deadmanshonda said...

Holy freaking crap....and meanwhile a whole generation of Sierra Leoneians are going "and I lost my arm for those muthers..."

Regardless this gave me a chuckle.

Azrael said...

Darwin - Bling your skulz!!! he he :D

Leisel - yeah what a waste!!!