Damien Hirst is an English artist, most known for his preserved dead animals. All of Hirst's work focuses on death, some draw more heavily on it than others such as his work "For the Love of God"; a piece that is composed of a platinum skull and 8,601 high-quality diamonds. When speaking about the piece Hirst explains that "For the Love of God" has obtained several different meanings. Hirst first said the skull encrusted diamond was meant to be a light hearted take on death, and on while thinking about the project he thought, "Death is such a heavy subject it would be good to make something that laughed in its face." However, throughout the work's creation Hirst began to realize the implications of gathering all of the diamonds and realized he was contributing to the blood diamond problem. After his revelation, Hirst noted that the skull took on a whole new literal meaning.
As for myself, I think its an amazing piece of art. To me it emphasizes the world's vanities and drives home the fact that no amount of money nor diamonds will make a difference when we're dead and decayed. After everything, all we are only a pile of bones.
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