Hirst’s diamond skull exemplifies a condition it cannot describe or transcend.

Evidence

Is there any art object which better captures this than the diamond-encrusted skull of Hirst’s “For The Love Of God”, the object which, more than any other, may come to stand for the decadence and vanity of the pre-2008 neoliberal world? “For The Love Of God” makes explicit the guiding logic of much of Hirst’s work: the only certainties are death and capital. But it can tell us nothing about this. It is a mute symptom which exemplifies a condition it can neither describe nor transcend. — Mark Fisher (edited by Darren Ambrose), K-Punk, 1596