#7. For the Love of Publicity
Artist Damien Hirst is no stranger to controversy. (Shark preserved in formaldehyde, anyone?) This year he unveiled "For the Love of God," a
platinum cast of a human skull encrusted with 8,601 diamonds. The artist
bought the 18th-century skull in England and maintains that all of the gems
were ethically sourced, i.e., no blood diamonds on these old bones. Hirst
also claims an anonymous consortium bought the skull for $100 million — which
would be a record-breaking sale for a living artist — but many in the art
world speculate he faked the sale in order to drum up publicity.