Damien Hirst Skull a Day Saturday June 4 2011

Damien Hirst Skull a Day Saturday June 4 2011
http://skulladay.blogspot.com

John LeKay also claimed Hirst had copied the idea of For the Love of God from LeKay's crystal skulls made in 1993, Spiritus Callidus and said, "I would like Damien to acknowledge that 'John really did inspire the skull and influenced my work a lot.' Copyright lawyer Paul Tackaberry reviewed images of LeKay's and Hirst's work and saw no basis for copyright infringement claims in a legal sense. LeKay, who claims to have been a friend of Hirst’s between 1992 and 1994, and who shared a mixed show with him in New York in 1994, said of the diamond skull: “When I heard he was doing it, I felt like I was being punched in the gut. When I saw the image online, I felt that a part of me was in the piece. I was a bit shocked.” LeKay, a 46-year-old Londoner who lives in New York, created 25 of the skulls in 1993. Inspired by Mayan skulls, he used crystal to make his skull glisten. “When the light hits it, it looks as if it is covered in diamonds,” he said. Over the years, he has explored the idea repeatedly, covering skulls made of soap and wax with artificial diamonds and Swarovski crystals.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Damien_Hirst

(DACS) demanding action be taken over works containing images of his skull sculpture For the Love of God made by a 16 year old graffiti artist, Cartrain, and sold on the internet gallery 100artworks.com. On the advice of his gallery, Cartrain handed over the artworks to DACS and forfeited the £200 he had made; he said, "I met Christian Zimmermann [from DACS] who told me Hirst personally ordered action on the matter." In June 2009, copyright lawyer Paul Tackaberry compared the two images and said, "This is fairly non-contentious legally. Ask yourself, what portion of the original–and not just the quantity but also the quality–appears in the new work? If a 'substantial portion' of the 'original' appears in the new work, then that's all you need for copyright infringement... Quantitatively about 80% of the skull is in the second image." Cartrain walked into Tate Britain in July 2009 and removed a pack of "very rare Faber Castell 1990 Mongol 482 series pencils" from Damien Hirst's pharmacy installation. Cartrain had then made a "fake" police appeal poster stating that the pencils had been "stolen" and that if anyone had any information they should call the police on the phone number advertised. Cartrain was arrested for £500,000 worth of theft. In 2007, artist John LeKay said he was a friend of Damien Hirst between 1992 and 1994 and had given him a "marked-up duplicate copy" of a Carolina Biological Supply Company catalogue, adding "You have no idea how much he got from this catalogue. The Cow Divided is on page 647 – it is a model of a cow divided down the centre, like his piece." This refers to Hirst’s work Mother and Child, Divided—a cow and calf cut in half and placed in formaldehyde. In 2010, in The Jackdaw, Charles Thomson said there were 15 cases where Hirst had plagiarised other work. Examples cited were Joseph Cornell who had created a similar piece to Hirst's Pharmacy in 1943; Lori Precious who had made stained-glass window effects from butterfly wings from 1994, a number of years before Hirst; and John LeKay who did a crucified sheep in 1987. Thomson said that Hirst's spin paintings and installation of a ball on a jet of air were not original, since similar pieces had been made in the 1960s. A spokesperson for Hirst said the article was "poor journalism" and that Hirst would be making a "comprehensive" rebuttal of the claims.

The 18th Century skull is entirely covered in 8,601 jewels, while new teeth were made for the artwork at a cost of £14m. The centrepiece of the 41-year-old's creation is a pear-shaped pink diamond, set in the skull's forehead. The £12m-worth of diamonds are said to be ethically sourced. Hirst said his piece, called For the Love of God, is "uplifting, takes your breath away". -- "It works much better than I imagined. I was slightly worried that we'd end up with an Ali G ring," he added. "You just want it to be flawless, like a diamond is a flawless. We wanted to put them everywhere," Hirst said of the skull. "They go underneath, inside the nose. Anywhere you can put diamonds, we've put diamonds. "I wouldn't mind if it happened to my skull after my death," he added. The artist said that he was inspired by an Aztec turquoise skull at the British Museum, and hopes that his work will eventually be displayed at the institution.

• For The Love of God, a platinum cast of an 18th century skull covered in 8,601 diamonds.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_the_Love_of_God_(artwork)

• The Virgin Mother, a massive sculpture depicting a pregnant female human, with layers removed from one side to expose the fœtus, muscle and tissue layers, and skull underneath. This work was purchased by real estate magnate Aby Rosen for display on the plaza of one of his properties, the Lever House, in New York City.
http://www.wirednewyork.com/images/art/damien_hirst_virgin_mother.jpg

• The Inescapable Truth, (2005). Glass, steel, dove, human skull and formaldehyde solution.

• The Death of God, (2006). Household gloss on canvas, human skull, knife, coin and sea shells. This painting, which is a part of a group of others which were made in Mexico, are believed to be "the beginning of Hirst's Mexican period".

• Alberge, Dalya. (27 June 2007). "My old friend Damien stole my skull idea", The Times. Retrieved 10 December 2007.


• Hirst unveils £50m diamond skull", BBC, 1 June 2007. Retrieved 1 June 2007.
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/6712015.stm

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