Dance Pahty

Damien Hirst new exhibition Beyond Belief at London's White Cube gallery is creating quite a stir in the art world. Specifically, his work For the Love of God, a skull encrusted with £12 million worth of diamonds. Tickets to view this work in a darkened room for five minutes have been selling out everyday. Damien Hirst is no stranger to controversy and conceptually challenging works of art, having sold a shark in a glass case filled with formaldehyde for £13 million. However, this works to pose a new challenge one of timelessness and value. The sparkling skull has a quality of timelessness and preservation in that it is displayed and guarded as an ancient artifact. It also through the art market makes a commentary on it, inherent within the astounding value of the work of art. Damien Hirst skull has more diamonds than the Royal Crown. This work if nothing else provides a solid confrontation to the transient and ancient question, what is art?