On Skulls: Part 1

Damien Hirst’s For the Love of God

Something of a sensation was caused by the unveiling of Damien Hirst’s 2007 work For the Love of God, a platinum cast of a human skull covered with over 8,000 flawless pavé diamonds. Admired and lambasted in equal measure, Hirst’s move would seem to be a fair summation of his career, marked as it has been by thematic concerns of belief, shock, beauty and death[1].

The skull was presented as the centre-piece of Hirst’s solo exhibition Beyond Belief which at the White Cube gallery in London in 2007. 

On visiting the exhibition, I found that the theatrical presentation and media-hyped glamour of the experience were central to the work’s effect. After acquiring a ticket, queuing, being searched and leaving bags in an ante room, a group of us were let in for a strict two minute viewing. The object glittered brilliantly in its cubic vitrine, the only feature in the pitch black room, with spotlights concealed so that it seemed as if the skull itself were the only light source.

Damien Hirst For the Love of God platinum skull, diamonds, human teeth  2007

 

The sense of anticipation as we crowded at the glass suggested a quasi-religious experience – as if we were at an ancient holy place, seeing at last with our own eyes the true relic, until we were called out and the next group of faithful ushered in. Indeed, the work in no small measure invites comparison with a religious artifact; its suggestion of physical residue (like the bone of a saint), its totemic symbolism, its employment of costly materials (prompting associations of gilt and lapis lazuli) giving it a decidedly numinous quality.

There was no doubt that the effect on the viewer was dramatic. But leaving the exhibit I pondered exactly what had been so impressive. Was it the sobering reminder of death behind the façade of wealth? Was this diamond encrusted skull a poignant embodiment of the vanitas theme for the contemporary world? Was there substance to reward critical investigation behind the hype or was it just the latest episode in the headline-grabbing career of the infamous Hirst, the erstwhile enfant terrible of the British artworld?

The following tentative exploration of these questions will attempt to draw out several themes: Firstly, the significance and function of the skull as a symbolic device and contrasting ways in which it could be read critically, secondly, the concept of luxury and the placement of Hirst’s work as luxury object, and finally, ideas of death in our contemporary western culture.

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[1] Rudi Fuchs discusses the themes of Hirst’s work in relation to the skull in his catalogue essay Victory Over Decay published in For the Love of God (Other Criteria/White Cube 2007)