Damien Hirst: The King of Diamonds.

Damien Hirst and his children's trust fund.

In my opinion, it sounds like an awful idea, and I have long been a believer in leaving dead things well alone which has unsurprisingly never enamoured me to Hirst’s exhibitions. However, I have put my artistic prejudices behind me after seeing For the Love of God.

This was easily done because I am a girl, and girls love diamonds. I like the fact that this is not an overtly dead animal, scarily preserved and strung up, or cut in half for us all to examine its innards. The skull is a platinum cast covered entirely with 8601 ethically sourced, near perfect diamonds, the only material to make you squirm is the original teeth of the 35 year old man. Their slightly distressing presence is heavily outweighed by the massive teardrop pink diamond set on the skull’s forehead. The idea of the endlessness of both the jewels and the remains of the man combined with the stunning radiance of the piece, cannot fail to make you feel in awe of death, its own immortality and infinite presence.

I guess I can finally see a little charm in Hirst’s exploratory visions of death; I may even start to appreciate his other, sadly diamondless, works on mortality.

So, I like it. And Hirst should be glad because it cost him about £15million to make it, and if I like it, maybe there’s a collector out there who’s willing to reach the £50million price tag. I’m going to start saving today, For the Love of God could only be a fine, multi-functional investment: my very own piece of enviable bling, a rather glitzy disco ball, and my very own sculpture to simultaneously mock and revere death. What more could a girl want?

For more information or to visit Hirst’s Beyond Belief exhibition see www.whitecube.com/exhibitions/beyond_belief/ Beyond Belief is running from 1 Jun—7 Jul 2007 at the White Cube, Hoxton Square and Mason's Yard.