Japanorama

chanced upon this on Wrongwroks

Yoshimoto Nara

...love his works.

Takashi Murakami

For the Love of God - Damien Hirst

It is entitled For the Love of God, apparently the exclamation

his mother gave upon hearing about the project.

The human skull, that of a mid-thirty-year-old man was not

merely encrusted with precious stones...

...but remade entirely. 32 platinum plates were made from its cast...

... before being hand-lasered with thousand of holes.

The diamonds were then set individually into each hole.

It took 8,601 flawless pavé diamonds to finish the piece.

'It's the maximum I can throw against death; perhaps that's crass,

to pit money against death, but it all depends on what it does visually,' says Hirst.

The original teeth were removed, 'lightly cleaned'...

...then embedded in the diamond and platinum mandibles.

The jaw was attached using platinum rods.

The large, pear-shaped diamond is light fancy pink, flawless

...surrounded by 14 graduated pear-shaped diamonds, all D-colour flawless.

So many diamonds were used for For the Love of God that it became difficult to source them on the world market, as the price rose.

The finished article.

pictures of the work's manufacture taken from Telegraph

View the entire collection of Damien Hirst - Beyond Belief exhibition

@ White Cube Mason's Yard & Hoston Square which ends on 7 July.

For the Love of God is only available at Mason's Yard.

*for some reason, blogger's line-spacing/font seem rather inconsistent (and I can't fix it)

so I hope it's not too uncomfortable for your eyes as they're quite annoying for mine. oh well...

I might just throttle someone if I don't ... ...

get myself out of this sinking feeling. Perhaps a little far too self-indulgent or naggingly procrastinating about endless issues, I've come to terms that this luxury of the idle isn't what I want for myself. As for the on-going search for what Nina calls, a "Falang" piece of accessory, I suppose delayed gratification makes life far more interesting.

By the way, this song makes everything a little less dire, don't you think so?

12-15 June 2007, London

students @ British Museum

napping couple

Gosh @ 39 Great Russell Street

@ Neal's Yard, Covent Garden

National Gallery's Grand Tour @ West End

brunch @ Notting Hill

Portobello Road

food hall @ Harrods

welcome to the world of Steiff

who would pay 99 quid for a stiff-looking cat like this?!

final stop @ Harrods

@ Centrepoint

good food+foul-faced staff
@Tottenham Court Road

macaroons from Ladurée

if these are 2nd rate macaroons,

I wonder how those from Pierre Hermé taste like... ...

Alice in (pop-up) Wonderland by J. Otto Seibold

& other Edward Gorey illustrations

from Gosh

Selfridges-Sloane Street-New Bond Street-Harrods: out of stock

disappointingly, search for Prada's satin turban headband turned out unfruitful.

headed to Topshop at Oxford Circus & Hark! here's what I found:

*model: Miffy

at least I've got a decent silk turban, although it isn't as lush as the originals.

here's how the real stuff looks like:

I know this looks superficially desperate but...

will some gorgeous soul help me get this headpiece?

I'm most willing to pay for cost+postage+handling fee+misc.

*FYI: Prada black satin headband, size: L or euro 42.

handmade purse from Portabello Market,

mesh bracelets from Topshop,

vintage 70s bangle from Portabello Market.

Highlights:

Piano Recitals by 2 legendary pianists

considering his age (65 years young),

Pollini's rendition of Liszt's Piano Sonata in B minor was formidable and unforgettable.

Shamefully, I dozed off a couple of times at Brendel's.

not that his playing was boring but because it was almost perfect in terms of:

structure/balance/tone/facility/musicality/programming/accoustics @ the new RFH etc.

although a slight memory slip occured at the

1st mvt of Mozart's Piano Sonata No. #% (tricky repeats!).

To sum it up, Pollini created magic and Brendel created beauty.

London was well spent.

(except for the bloody headband!)