Our Ongoing Fascination with Death
Death is such a cool topic. It carries so many taboos, but that doesn’t stop our ongoing interest in it. From ancient times onward mankind has recorded how people have died in drawing and painting, ritualized the burial process by creating ceremonies, and erected massive monuments like pyramids to those who have gone.
Created by English artist, Damien Hirst, “For the Love of God” is a life-size cast of a human skull in platinum and covered by 8,601 pave-set diamonds weighing 1,106.18 carats.
The single large diamond in the middle of the forehead is reportedly worth $4.2 million alone. Hirst financed the project himself, last year, sold the piece for £50 million to an unknown investment group
It is a spectacular tribute to life and death, I wonder how the person whose skull was used for the cast would have felt had s/he known what would happen. Immortalization in form.
26 Aug
Comment by BarbJones at 11:58 pm, September 3rd, 2008
Comment by VisualArtsMajor at 5:12 am, September 6th, 2008