~DAMIEN HIRST/$100 million/man

Damien skull
DAMIEN HIRST diamond encrusted skull – ‘For the Love of God’,
image: courtesy White Cube, London

DAMIEN HIRST, . . . For the Love of Money or (Bad) Art Marketing 101.

Damien Hirst & White Cube have put forth an “extraordinary diamond skull,
‘For the Love of God’, a life-size cast of a human skull in platinum, covered entirely
by 8,601 VVS to flawless pave-set diamonds. They want $100,000,000, YES!! that’s
100 million $$ US !!, for it. the story goes something like, its got $30 million worth of diamonds, and therefore the artist and the dealer get to split the remaining 70 million, left over. As of this posting – they haven’t found a taker, yet.
(well, at least the new owner doesn’t have to hire a scuba diver to jump in and clean it, once a week, which Damien’s ‘aquarium/fish tank’ pieces require.)

They have also made available, for the lesser pocket-booked, a series of silkscreens depicting the skull, cutely titled: ‘For the Love of God, Laugh’ !
These silkscreens are in an edition of 250, and they are sprinkled with real diamond dust !! These prints are going for: 10,000 British pounds+VAT

you can see pictures of the skull & prints on the White Cube, LONDON website:
LAUNCH VIEWING ROOM
and for the data, check here:
VIEWING ROOM/data:

bad enough as that is, a young and slightly eccentric, or is it obsessive, collector,
down in Tribeca – is telling anyone who will listen, the unsubstantiated claim that: ” . . Damien Hirst is the world’s richest living artist, having amassed a personal fortune that clocks in at over: 250 million pounds (US$500 million)”.

to celebrate this top tier OCEANS 11 heist of the artworld:
here’s some never-before-published artlovers photos, from 2005:
DAMIEN HIRST opens, ‘THE ELUSIVE TRUTH’ at GAGOSIAN GALLERY, CHELSEA, NYC. (24th STREET), MARCH 11, 2005
The show ran from March 11 – May 21, 2005
Photos: Nancy Smith

damien # 1
DAMIEN HIRST opens ‘THE ELUSIVE TRUTH’, GAGOSIAN GALLERY, 24th STREET, NYC.

damien # 2
DAMIEN HIRST greets some fans at the opening.

damien # 3
STEVE BUSCEMI makes the DAMIEN HIRST opening.

damien # 4 x 4
MAURIZIO CATTELAN also dropped by the DAMIEN HIRST opening.

Damien # 5
one of the paintings in the show. DAMIEN HIRST, ‘ Minerals’, 2000-2003,
oil and acrylic on canvas, 72 x 89 ins.

Damien # 6
large painting, DAMIEN HIRST, in ‘THE ELUSIVE TRUTH’, GAGOSIAN GALLERY,
24th STREET, NYC, MARCH 11, 2005

see more: DAMIEN HIRST – ‘THE ELUSIVE TRUTH’ (2005), GAGOSIAN GALLERY