Extending the Ban on Paris Hilton

The second edition of Beyond Limits, Sotheby's selling exhibition of monumental modern and contemporary sculpture, opens at Chatsworth on Saturday. (You might recognize the imposing estate 3 hours north of London as Mr. Darcy's Pemberley in the recent remake of Jane Austen's Pride & Prejudice starring Keira Knightley.) Works by Auguste Rodin and Henry Moore will be installed throughout the grounds of Chatsworth. So will sculpture commissioned especially for the sale, including a nearly ten-foot-tall likeness of Kate Moss in yogic pose by YBA Marc Quinn.

This gives us the opportunity to let you know what we think about this vogue for celebrity portraiture: We've had enough.

In the spring of 2006, there was Daniel Edwards's sculpture of Britney Spears delivering son Sean Preston on a bearskin rug, the "first Pro-Life monument to birth." The press release issued by Capla Kesting Fine Art in Williamsburg, Brooklyn said, "Dedication of the life-sized statue celebrates the recent birth of Spears' baby boy, Sean, and applauds her decision of placing family before career." A year later, Edwards crafted a public service announcement, using a likeness of an autopsied Paris Hilton "to warn teenagers of the hazards of underage drinking." Various versions of Quinn's Kate Mosses went up Mary Boone Gallery in May, and Tom Sanford's diptych of recent British imports David and Victoria Beckham were on view as part of a group show on the Lower East Side this summer.

Is this satire?

We don't know, but whatever it is, it's got a hefty price tag. The Britney and Paris sculptures retail for $15,000 - 30,000 for the resin casts and $100,000 - 250,000 for the bronze. One of Quinn's Kate Mosses shown at Mary Boone will cost you $200 - 300,000.

For that much money, we'd be happy to tear out a page from the latest Us Weekly and tack it on our wall instead.

Photo Credit: Gary Rogers/Chatsworth House Trust

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