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Damien Tries: II
It's almost too easy for Damien Hirst: his recent provocation, pictured above, is a $98 Million human skull encrusted with diamonds.
Just the thing for the discerning collector from the YBA Bad Boy himself, crooked leering smile, stereotypical British bad teeth and all. The skull itself was cast in platinum from a 35 year old European who died in the 18th century and Hirst stresses that the diamonds are "ethically sourced." In other words, Hirst drew his line carefully to avoid consternation among his audience about the current issue of so-called "blood diamonds": gems that are mined, often by forced labor, and sold to support various military and insurgent groups in Africa.
(Also the subject of a halfway decent movie, in which Leonardo DiCaprio tries out his South African accent and does his best to shed his golden boy image, while Djimon Hounsou puts in a great performance as an African man whose is captured and has his family severed by rebels. While he ultimately escapes, his son is turned into a blank eyed child soldier in service of the rebels. Jennifer Connelly plays the obligatory love interest who appears at the beginning and end...)
In any event, the teeth in the skull are real and they really add to the overall effect. Apparently, he financed it himself and cannot remember whether it cost 10 or 15 million British pounds.
Other works in the new exhibition include pickled creatures, a flying dove suspended in mid-air, a flayed human statue holding its own skin and a series of pictures of an operation being carried out. These seem to be more of the typical assortment.
So, what do you think? Will the Saatchis buy it, or have they already spent enough on Hirst? Or has Hirst run his course in an era where a "reality" TV show on Dutch television featured a competition to obtain a kidney transplant from a "willing donor" (actually, just an actress--the show was apparently a hoax)?