Memento mori, self-deprecating commentary on the excesses of the art market or morbid-materialistic play with concepts of value?
Damien Hirst's platinum cast of a human skull, which the Brit made in 2007, covered with diamonds and offered as "For the Love of God" in his White Cube gallery for a record price of fifty million pounds, undoubtedly paid enormous attention to the artist's account.
Who brazenly charges more than any other living artist for a work, even if it allegedly costs £12m to produce, and sells it – again allegedly – for cash to a consortium of investors that Hirst himself claims to be a member of?
It has long since become quiet around the fifty-million head, a copyright dispute associated with the skull is almost forgotten, and instead of hard goods, Hirst is now focusing on lucrative blockchain art.
So it's only logical that he's now turning the corner with the "New York Times" with the story that "For the Love of God" was, as was already rumored, actually never sold, but always owned by Hirst, his gallery and its investors and is in a depot in London.
So much for imaginary values.