Hirst Cracks His Nut With Sparkly Skull

Long after Damien Hirst made his name with plopping a shark into formaldehyde, the artist is now planning to finish his next piece of work under the watchful eye of security guards and insurance brokers. Hirst plans to create a skull that is cast in platinum and encased entirely in diamonds - 8,500 of them. The Guardian newspaper says that it will be the most expensive work of art ever created, costing between £8m and £10m.

‘I just want to celebrate life by saying to hell with death,’ said the artist, ‘What better way of saying that than by taking the ultimate symbol of death and covering it in the ultimate symbol of luxury, desire and decadence? The only part of the original skull that will remain will be the teeth. You need that grotesque element for it to work as a piece of art. God is in the details and all that.’

Guardian Unlimited Arts