Decay-Damien Herst

Damien Herst is by far one of my favorite artists. Though decay is just one of many ideas behind his work, he uses this concept to create art that generally shocks people. This tactic gained him notorioty quickly, dating back to his exhibition "Freeze." In this exhibition he takes animals spliced in pieces, kept afloat in an aquarium like structure. An interesting fact about these pieces is that when bought, he will service the piece for life. Though the bodies of the animals are preserved, they still decay (roughly within 10 years of their death). I find the natural decay ironic as the piece is in a way made to symbolise immortality. Another one of my favorite pieces is "For the Love of God," in which he covered a skull with millions of dollars worth of diamond. This is still the most expensive piece of art to date, being sold at 100 million dollars. He came up with the name for the piece when his mother exclaimed "For the Love of God Damien, what are you going to do next?" It is very reminiscent of the saying, you can't take it with you. Though the skull is covered in diamonds, the person is dead. It is an innevitable fate for everyone, something in which even the rich cannot escape. I find it interesting that he chose to cover the skull (something that will disintegrate in time) with earth's most hard substance. The diamonds outlast the person, but these too will eventually return back to the earth. Though there is a straight-forward connection with decay in his work,