Frank Dunphy on Selling a Skull

© the artist. Courtesy Jay Jopling/White Cube, London

Damien Hirst, "For the Love of God, The Diamond Skull" (2007)

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Welcome to ARTINFO’s new Newsmaker column, where every Thursday we’ll run an interview related to recent headlines or happenings in the art world.

This week we spoke to Frank Dunphy, Damien Hirst’s elusive business manager, about Hirst’s For the Love of God, a platinum skull that the artist cast from a real 18th-century skull and encrusted with 8,601 diamonds, worth a reported $20 million.

Last week, the work, which had been for sale since at least early June, went to an unnamed investment group for its asking price of £50 million, or about $100 million, the most ever paid for a work by a living artist. But there’s a catch: It turns out Hirst is part of that group, which plans to resell the work at a later date.

ARTINFO spoke to Dunphy by phone, shortly after the sale.

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Frank, can you confirm that For the Love of God sold for £50M?

Yes.

And is it true that the group that bought it is going to resell it?

They might do that, yes.

How much do you think they’ll get for it?

I don’t know. But I suspect that they’re going to make a profit.

This sale represents the most ever paid for a work by a living artist. So you think this work can break its own record?

Oh, yeah.

What if, hypothetically, it didn’t sell?

That sometimes happens, doesn’t it?

I understand that Damien Hirst was part of the group that bought the work. Is that true?

He has retained an interest in it.

Do you know what his stake is?

No.... I do, but I’m not going to say.

What’s he up to next?

We have a show opening in New York this week. Not a show, it’s a collaboration with Levi’s and the Warhol Foundation to produce a range of clothing. That’s at Gagosian Gallery.

I heard he might also be creating a bejeweled skeleton.

A what?

A skeleton encrusted with jewels.

Who said that? I’ve never heard that. Sounds like a good idea to me, but I assure you there are no plans to do so.

Well, you can pass that on to him if you like.

I will—it sounds like a brilliant idea. Yeah!

For the Love of God was modeled on a skull belonging to a young man from the 18th century, right?

That’s right.

The actual skull isn’t part of the work, though?

No, it’s not. It’s a platinum cast from that skull.

And the teeth?

They’re the real teeth, taken from the skull.

What do you think that young man would think of For the Love of God?

Wouldn’t we all love to think that our bones look that good? Wouldn’t we all like to think that we look so good after so many years?