Pill-encrusted skull
Mark Kilner created this phenomenal sculpture, titled Numbskull. It's a plastic skull covered in 630 tablets of paracetamol (aka acetaminophen). Numbskull (Flickr, via MAKE:)
Previously on BB:
• Damien Hirst's diamond skull
• Prank on Damien Hirst
• Pumpkin version of Damien Hirst $100 mil diamond skull
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...Holy frack! That's my skull these days! Can I sue this guy for copyright infringement, or just have him pay for my next shipment of meds? :-) :-) :-)
This sculpture immediately called to mind Honore Daumier:
http://www.daumier.org/fileadmin/daumier_news/LDapp39.jpg
http://www.bium.univ-paris5.fr/histmed/medica/migraine/gd/daumier.jpg
The title would make the whole project worthwhile, if it weren't already. :)
Is there a word for people creeped out by things encrusted on other things. This kind of thing gives me nightmares. And not coz it's a skull. There was an ad on UK TV with a man's face made of hazelnuts - aaaagggghhh!!! And a local art gallery has a male torso covered in copper coins. Shiver.
Or is it just me.....?
I would really like to see Hirst's skull slip into obscurity, rather than being parodied, referenced and used as a source of inspiration. Every time someone does something like this, it just ads to Hirst's luster (or at least to his ego). The only worthwhile offshoot of "For the Love of God" was the replica that was left in the trash heap outside of White Cube Gallery before the opening. That said it all. So let's have a cup of coffee and move on to more important and less hubristic art sources, shall we?
I showed the Hirst skull and the parody to one of my classes. They were like "That would make a cool belt buckle!".
Mrs Portswood you need to stay clear of anyone brandishing a bedazzler.
I actually prefer this skull as art more than Damien Hirst's...
SETHUM @8, Me too! When I first saw it, I didn't even make the Hirst connection. I think this one is more interesting!
Why did the pharmacy in the jungle have to close?
Because the parrots eat 'em all.
...Either way, we've gone from Crystal Skulls to Crystal Meth ones.
I think it should be called a Pharmaceuti-Skull.
Nah - looks klunky. Give me Hirsts's diamond one for craftmanship any day.
If he had made it out of pills, rather than just covering a plastic skull with pills, then I'd be impressed. Otherwise, it's just a neat idea, but lacks craftsmanship -- even I could glue pills to a plastic skull.
glue and pills...it's going to be a wonderful evening
hirsts skull is an important work of art for a few reasons: excellent craftmanship; perceived value and monetary/material value are of monumental scale; unique original medium (i never heard of a sculpture made of frikkin DIAMONDS before) and though the content or message (mortality, temporary value of material things) is not original, it has never been voiced as powerfully as in hirsts sculpture.
oh and also it is great fun to criticize it.
so,if I roll my head in glue and then shake a dozen bottles of Aspirin......
Well, there is that one super obnoxious commercial for a headache remedy... Head On! Apply Directly to the Forehead!!
Ahhh, he should have done it with Alka-seltzer. More satisfying when thrown it water.
An interesting exercise.
But-
When you start with a skull, it seems that the piece is given automatic relevance in todays world, and everyone starts to put meaning to it, even when there is none.
I said exercise earlier, because it hasn't been taken to a final level. It's still very apparent that it's a plastic skull covered with pills, so my thoughts on the piece stop there. That being said, the artist didn't say this was phenomenal, the blogger, David, did.
It's phrenomenal.
Oh... you again. ;) I suppose if it was a foot you would have said its reflexonomenal.
(Don't start a branglement dude).
Jake, if I sounded offensive, forgive me; it was completely occipital.
Well Anthony, I think you'll agree that we'd both rather have a bottle in front of us than a frontal lobotomus.
Comments I never finished reading.
''When you start with a skull,...''
It might be time for a bicameral breakdown. By the way, thanks to you I just read way more than I should have about lobotomies.
I swear, at first I thought it was Pez; I even read the headline as Pez-encrusted skull.
I'm not certain which I prefer.
I was into Pez Encrusted Skull way before they got popular and sold out. Now it's like they are everyone's favorite new discovery. Whatever.