The Ultimate Tchotchke?

Would you want this sitting on your mantel? I suppose it would tend to draw focus away from everything else in your library wouldn’t it? Should you redecorate? It’s Damien Hirst’s latest “concept” art and it’s on display and is for sale at a gallery in London. It’s a real skull, European (circa 1765), and it’s covered with small diamonds, including the nostrils (except for the one on the forehead, which is 52.40 carats). It cost $23.6 million to make and is on sale for $100 million, although I betcha Mr. Hirst's representatives would seriously consider a $90 million offer. I presume the teeth are the originals but that detail doesn’t seem to be covered in the publicist’s information kit. To me it is the current most expensive joke in the “art world.” If anybody actually buys this thing, and someone probably will, it will be just another nail in what I consider the coffin of my sanity.

Mr. Hirst is the dude who first came to prominence (as far as it relates to me, anyway) by pickling and suspending animals in formaldehyde. I saw the now-famous shark at the Brooklyn Museum when it was part of the Saatchi Corporation’s very controversial show there; the one that our (at the time) mayor (yes, the lovely current presidential candidate who was reborn on 9/11) tried to shut down because he was offended by a perceived sacrilegious painting that was part of the show. I wouldn’t have gone near the joint except I wanted to show my support for freedom of speech and art in general and hiked over there for that purpose. Yes, the shark smelled badly; but that’s another story and was probably part of the art; olfactory division.

I’m not sure what Mr. Hirst’s goal is here, other than to confound people like me. Maybe that’s his point. Yet another success.