Artist Damien Hirst Unveils $100 Million Skull

Artist Damien Hirst has unveiled a diamond-encrusted human skull worth $100 million - said to be the most expensive piece of contemporary art.

The skull, cast from a 35-year-old 18th century European male, is coated with 8,601 diamonds, including a large pink diamond worth more than ten million dollars in the centre of its forehead.

"It shows we are not going to live for ever. But it also has a feeling of victory over death", Hirst says of the skull.

Hirst, who has a preoccupation with blood and death and whose works range from diced and pickled quadrupeds to bloody depictions of birth, said he was inspired by similarly bejewelled Aztec skulls.

Hirst said he hoped the skull would not be snapped up by a private buyer and taken away from public view.

"It would be sad it ends up in a vault somewhere that nobody sees. Obviously I would like it to be on display. If anybody buys it, I would make that part of the conditions", he said.

He rejected suggestions that his works were more a standing joke against the art establishment than real works of art.

"I've stopped worrying about what art is. There is good art, bad art, indifferent art. It is art but it is more timeless than contemporary art", he said.

"I hope this work gives people hope -- uplifting, take your breath away", he said in response to a question on what he expected the public to get from the skull.

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