Damien Hirst has refused to grant documentary filmmaker Ben Lewis permission to capture work currently on display at the British Museum, reports the Telegraph.

"It's as if we are living in a communist state," saidLewis, whose program Brave New Art World will be shown on the BBC next year. "I wanted to film some of the Hirst skulls at the museum, but Hirst told them not to let me. This is a publicly funded institution and it is my right to film the art in there."

According to Lewis, Hirst told the museum he did not want his "Statue Philia" exhibition featured because the filmmaker is known to be critical of postmodern art.

"My program is an inquiry into the unprecedented prices of contemporary art in the last five years," Lewis said. "I argue that this is because of an artificially created commercial and marketing buzz around them. This has been done by placing such works of art next to some of the greatest works of art ever created by the human imagination in the British Museum and elsewhere."

A spokesperson for the museum noted that Hirst has the right to withold permission to film his work and stressed that the artist is not "trying to be restrictive." Hirst's spokesperson declined to comment. Several weeks ago Hirst threatened to sue a 16-year-old artist for selling a collage featuring a photo of his diamond-encrusted skull, For the Love of God.