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WORLD / Odd News
Hirst's skull sells for 50 million pounds
(Reuters)
Updated: 2007-08-31 20:44
LONDON? - A diamond-encrusted platinum skull by artist Damien Hirst has
been sold to an investment group for the asking price of 50 million
pounds, a spokeswoman for Hirst's London gallery White Cube said on
Thursday.
A life size cast of a human skull in platinum by British artist Damien
Hirst is seen in this handout image released in London, June 1,
2007.?[Reuters]?
The skull, cast from a 35-year-old 18th century European man but
retaining the original teeth, is coated with 8,601 diamonds, including a
large pink diamond worth more than four million pounds in the centre of
its forehead.
The spokeswoman said she could give no more details of the buyer.
"Damien Hirst has retained a participation in the work -- he still owns a
share of it -- in order that he can oversee a global tour of the work
that is currently being planned," she added.
The skull caused a sensation when it first went on display at an
exhibition of new works by Hirst at the White Cube in central London on
June 3 -- not least because of its price tag.
Some critics dismissed it as tasteless while others saw it as a
reflection of celebrity-obsessed culture.
Works by Hirst, who first made his name displaying diced and pickled
animals, became the most expensive at auction for a living artist when
his "Lullaby Spring" pill cabinet sold at Sotheby's in London for 9.6
million pounds.
The skull is the most expensive piece to date by Hirst, already a
millionaire several times over.
The sale of the skull brings to 174.4 million pounds the value of works
sold from the June exhibition. Generally the gallery takes 30 percent and
Hirst 70 percent of the proceeds.
As an indication of the wealth he has amassed since being spotted in 1991
by art collector Charles Saatchi, Hirst, who financed the skull himself,
said he couldn't remember whether it had cost 10 or 15 million pounds to
make.
He said from the outset he wanted the work, inspired by similarly
bejewelled Aztec skulls, to be on public view.
He rejected suggestions that his works were more a standing joke against
the art establishment than real works of art.
But when asked at the time of the exhibition what his next project would
be he immediately replied: "Two diamond skeletons shagging -- no just
kidding."
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