Skull-Art

Skull Art

Mankind has always been fascinated by decorated or jewelled skulls throughout the ages and across many cultures. Skulls have been used as symbols of power. religion or simply as art.

There has always been a keen interest for skulls in the art world, but this interest rocketed recently when famous artist Damian Hirst presented the world with his latest creation. A diamond encrusted skull which was sold at an auction for the pricely sum of $100 million. But where did Hirst get his inspiration from?

The Crystal Skull

One of the most famous skulls known is the crystal skull. Believed to have been found buried under a collapsed altar inside temple it is said it has supernatural powers. It is made from a block of clear quartz and is perfect in all ways. The age of this skull is said to be over 3600 years old.

Aztec and Mayan decorated skulls

Many hundreds of years ago the Aztec and Mayan cultures would decorate skulls in many different ways. Many artist have created works based on these colourful pieces.

LeKay skulls

During the 1990's a well known british artist named John LeKay began producing skulls created from wax or soap and adorning them with Swarovski crystals. These pieces were very poular among collectors who would pay in excess of $2500 for each one.

Nicola Bolla skulls

Italian artist Nicolla Bolla was also creating skulls made up from Swarovski crystals. These looked more sofisticated than the LeKay skulls and often appeared in various art galleries around the world.

The Hirst diamond skull

Rumor has it that Damian Hirst inspired his creation called ´For the love of god` on the LeKay and Bolla skulls. The difference was that Hirst used over 9000 real diamonds on a platinum based skull in his creation. With an auction selling price of $100 million its no wonder that it has become the worlds most expensive piece of contemporary art. Hirst has also been offering signed photographs of his skull for about $10,000. Who said art was cheap?

Diamonds are a skulls best friend

Of course, if you like the Hirst diamond skull but can't afford to pay $100 million you can always go for ´Hirst inspired` skulls which have been created by other artists. Most of them are adorned with Swarovski crystals as real diamonds are far too expensive to use.

Colourfil skulls by Quinn Gregory

Artist Quinn Gregory strongly believes that our bodies are merely shells we use while here on Earth. He also loves to jewel human skulls with colorful Swarovski Crystals.

The Robert Fuss skull

Robert Fuss created a Swarovski crystaled skull very similar to the original using over 9000 crystals. This example has been exhibited at various art shows in Europe.

Jewelled skull by Jayare

Here we have another Swarovski jewelled skull by Jayare. This example also has blue jewelled eyes.

The Keeble skull

Laura Keeble also produced a Hirst skull copy which was left on the door of the White Cube art gallery in London as a publicity stunt. This gallery is also the home of various of Hirst's art pieces.

Zadora stone skull

Zadora, or Baron Von Andreas Zadora is well known for creating skulls carved from different types of stone. Some of the worlds wealthiest collectors have zadora skulls in their collection. Many of his creations were on show recently at an exhibition in London.

Amy Sarkisian skulls

Amy Sarkisian is a Los Angeles-based artist. She has been creating and presenting original works of art for the past 10 years. Her skull collection has been seen at several exhibitions around the world. Most of the skulls are created from precious stones.