Solid gold Moss sculpture unveiled

2 October 2008 06:40am

A 50kg solid gold statue of supermodel Kate Moss is being unveiled.

Siren, a £1.5 million solid gold sculpture, is one of several contemporary sculptures in the exhibition Statuephilia.

Each work will be sited in a different gallery within London's British Museum, juxtaposed with its permanent collection.

Marc Quinn's solid gold statue of Moss, described as an "Aphrodite of our times", will find fitting setting at the centre of the Nereid Gallery, interacting with the great Greek beauties that surround it.

Quinn's most famous work was Alison Lapper Pregnant.

His sculpture is said to be the largest gold statue to be made in the world since the time of Ancient Egypt.

Quinn has said of using Moss as a subject: "I thought the next thing to do would be to make a sculpture of the person who's the ideal beauty of the moment.

"But even Kate Moss doesn't live up to the image."

Damien Hirst will commandeer the historic wall cases of the Enlightenment Gallery and fill them with 200 specially created skulls.

The resulting work, Cornucopia, will address Hirst's fascination with death.

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