Week 3 - Damien Hirst's work 'For the Love of God' and Mercantilism

For the Love of God(2007) Damien Hirst

Research Damien Hirst's work For the Love of God (2007) in order to answer the following questions;

1. Describe the work, giving details of the form and materials. 

Damien Hirst's "For the Love of God", considered the Most expensive art to ever be made by a single artist, is a sculpture which consist of a platinum cast of a human skull, which was brought from a shop in Islington & is thought to be from a European living between 1720 and 1810.This skull, where the platinum covers the entire skull with the exception of its teeth is also encrusted with 8601 flawless diamond, all weighing in a total of 1,106.18 carats. At the center of that forehead lies a peer shaped pink diamond which some believed is to be the center piece of the entire sculpture. All the diamonds used for the work are said to be ethically sourced.

2. What does the work mean? What is Damien Hirst communicating in the work?

The meaning of the work, based on a few sources, focuses around the subject of death. Which was the basic theme that most of his ideas is based upon and was actually famous for. To be specific, the work itself was supposed to be based around the celebration or luxury of death due to the fact that the work was based around a Aztec Skull a the British Museum which focuses on the decoration of the skull. This sculpture is a recreation of that style on death, and embellishes it with luxury by covering it with the most expensive diamond to prove his point.

3. How does Hirst's diamond encrusted skull relate to Mercantilism and to conspicuous consumption?

This work in relation to Mercantilism and Conspicuous consumption is not own only in terms of its pricing and cost, but also on its antiquity. During the Time of Renaissance when Mercantilism was still use as a main system for economy. Wealth was measured by the possession of precious items and materials, as well as the social status of the people, something that is still very much used today. Hirst work on using diamonds helps in being related to Conspicuous consumption due to the obscene amount of money that was being spend on towards the source of the material, but not only do they helps in not just making it the most expensive art to date, but also elevates its status as a work along with Hrist as the artist.

4. How much did the work cost, and how much was it sold for, and who bought it?

The diamonds and fabrication of the skull was said to cost around $16-20 million to make, and is worth around $50-100 million. Originally claimed to have been sold for around about that amount to an anonymously investor, many believe that he hasn’t sold it to any buyer yet and tries to use this claim to help drum up publicity. So it is currently being owned by Hrist Himself.

5. What are some of the differing opinions of the journalists in the newspaper and blog articles?
   What did they think of the work?

There were many mixed opinions of "for the Love of God". To some journalist, the skull shows a perfect representation of the glory and celebration of dead, but however to most it was considered to be quite excessive and extravagant and even claiming that the art is just a publicity stunt by Hirst to get more attention and to raise the value of his other works. Journalist such as Robin Simon, who is the editor of the British Art Journal has given negative response to it, saying that the artwork is "vacuous nonsense" and that the "art is extremely dull" despite good comment on its workmanship. Even Californian private art dealer, Richard Polsky also agree in the publicity stunt of the work, saying that "The sale keeps Hirst in the news, reinforces the demand for his work and makes everyone who spent money at White Cube feel good about their investment”. This is all about investment, not about art collecting". So there are still many talks about the work, considering whether it is artwork or just merchandise

6. Based on your research, what is your opinion of the work, as an object or a work of art?

After much research from my part, I just found the artwork to be quite "interesting" in my part, as I could not distinguish weather it was considered much of an art or object. Naturally when I first saw the piece, I considered it to be more of a one of king piece of merchandise created only for the purpose of being sold to the highest bidder. However I also begin to see it also as a clever artwork in trying to simply celebrate the glory of death, where no matter how much you spend your money, you cannot beat death (which would explain the amount of money used). So in the end, I would see his piece as both a piece of expensive object as well as a work of art, which shows more meaning than it appears.

·    http://janineflynn.com/blog/index.php/category/art/sculpture/

·         http://www.artknowledgenews.com/Damien_Hirst_For_The_Love_Of_God.html

·         http://www.guardian.co.uk/artanddesign/2011/nov/21/damien-hirst-tate-modern

·         http://www.gagosian.com/artists/damien-hirst/

·         http://www.geekologie.com/2007/06/damien-hirsts-for-the-love-of.php

·         http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-459204/Damien-Hirst-unveils-jewels-crown-50m-diamond-studded-skull.html

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/uk/this-britain/the-mystery-of-the-pound50m-skull-is-hirsts-record-sale-all-it-seems-401183.html