Hirst buys Hilton porn portrait

Updated 14.29 Fri Sep 26 2008
Keywords: Jonathon yeo, paris hilton, damien hirst

Damien Hirst has paid an undisclosed sum for a portrait of Paris Hilton made entirely from images taken from porn magazines.

Hirst cashed in earlier this month at a two-day auction of his works, fetching an unprecedented £111 million at Sotheby's, boosting his vast wealth.

He was inspired to make his first porn collage after the White House cancelled a commission to paint George Bush in 2004.

The collage of the US heiress, entitled Paris, 2008, was created by Jonathan Yeo, who has painted conventional portraits of Tony Blair, Andrew Lloyd Webber, Rupert Murdoch and Prince Philip.

His official portrait of Tony Blair was dominated by a Remembrance Day poppy - a symbol of the many wars fought while he was prime minister.

Yeo was inspired to make his first porn collage after the White House cancelled a commission to paint George Bush in 2004.

Annoyed, he decided to embark on a portrait of the US President anyway, but using pieces of pornographic magazines.

Yeo, the son of the former Conservative minister Tim, is showing his work in New York in the Lazarides Gallery.

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