Damien Hirst Seeks $99 Million

[CJCRANE]

Damien Hirst Seeks $99 Million for Skull With 8,601 Diamonds

"May 16 (Bloomberg) -- A diamond-encrusted platinum skull by Damien Hirst will go on sale for 50 million pounds ($99 million) in London. The price compares with the $8 million hedge-fund manager Steven Cohen paid for the artist's pickled shark in 2005.

``For the Love of God'' is covered entirely by 8,601 stones weighing a total of 1,106.18 carats. It will form part of the exhibition, ``Beyond Belief,'' at the White Cube, Mason's Yard gallery next month. Other works will go on show at Hoxton Square.

A sale of the skull for about $100 million would put Hirst, 41, on a price level with Pablo Picasso and Gustav Klimt, dead artists who produced some of the 20th century's most famous works".

http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601093&sid=aRTH5C5.2FpY&refer=home

[The_Casual_Observer]

1. Hirst makes hedge fund manager art. It's a new category of bad art

marketed to people with a lot more money than taste or sense.