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What is the painting of Charles Saatchi throttling Nigella Lawson really saying? What is the painting of Charles Saatchi throttling Nigella Lawson really saying?
(34 minutes later)
When photographs of Charles Saatchi apparently throttling Nigella Lawson were published in 2013, the public outrage they unleashed left the former Conservative party advertising man vilified and divorced. Saatchi is now best known as a celebrity chef's former husband and as a man who was violent towards a woman in public.When photographs of Charles Saatchi apparently throttling Nigella Lawson were published in 2013, the public outrage they unleashed left the former Conservative party advertising man vilified and divorced. Saatchi is now best known as a celebrity chef's former husband and as a man who was violent towards a woman in public.
It must come almost as a relief to him to be mocked as the man who "throttles" the art world.It must come almost as a relief to him to be mocked as the man who "throttles" the art world.
A painting of Saatchi throttling Lawson has turned up for sale on Saatchi's own website Saatchiart.com, which allows large numbers of artists to sell their work online with his imprimateur. Very embarrasing for Saatchi – though as he replied to a reporter, would he have looked better if he had censored it? A painting of Saatchi throttling Lawson has turned up for sale on Saatchi's own website Saatchiart.com, which allows large numbers of artists to sell their work online with his imprimatur. Very embarrassing for Saatchi – though as he replied to a reporter, would he have looked better if he had censored it?
In fact, Saatchi has been taken for a ride by his old enemies, the Stuckists. Reports have missed the artist's hidden agenda. Darren Udaiyan, creator of this remarkably tasteless painting of a grisly assault, belongs to the Stuckist movement, the anti-Turner prize, anti-Saatchi, anti-Tate art movement whose manifestos and pranks are a playful irritant in the British art scene.In fact, Saatchi has been taken for a ride by his old enemies, the Stuckists. Reports have missed the artist's hidden agenda. Darren Udaiyan, creator of this remarkably tasteless painting of a grisly assault, belongs to the Stuckist movement, the anti-Turner prize, anti-Saatchi, anti-Tate art movement whose manifestos and pranks are a playful irritant in the British art scene.
Udaiyan claims his painting symbolises Saatchi's stranglehold on the art world. As such, it is just one in a long list of paintings he has made that attack what the Stuckists see as a trendy conspiracy ruling contemporary art.Udaiyan claims his painting symbolises Saatchi's stranglehold on the art world. As such, it is just one in a long list of paintings he has made that attack what the Stuckists see as a trendy conspiracy ruling contemporary art.
I can feel for Saatchi – well, I can't actually – but I too have been portrayed by Darren Udaiyan. On the front of the artist's website you'll find his manifesto painting The Betrayal of Art – By Man, in which Jonathan Jones, Charles Saatchi, Nigella Lawson and Matthew Collings are portrayed as art's supreme enemies.I can feel for Saatchi – well, I can't actually – but I too have been portrayed by Darren Udaiyan. On the front of the artist's website you'll find his manifesto painting The Betrayal of Art – By Man, in which Jonathan Jones, Charles Saatchi, Nigella Lawson and Matthew Collings are portrayed as art's supreme enemies.
What his latest masterpiece reveals is the vast gulf between people who are obsessed with art, and the rest of the world. It's one thing to portray me and Saatchi killing Art – what the hell, it's fun publicity – but in his new painting Udaiyan has turned a real and highly disturbing incident into something that is presumably meant to elicit a cynical laugh.What his latest masterpiece reveals is the vast gulf between people who are obsessed with art, and the rest of the world. It's one thing to portray me and Saatchi killing Art – what the hell, it's fun publicity – but in his new painting Udaiyan has turned a real and highly disturbing incident into something that is presumably meant to elicit a cynical laugh.
In other words, he's so caught up in art world politics that he can't seem to see that his image is about a man throttling a woman.In other words, he's so caught up in art world politics that he can't seem to see that his image is about a man throttling a woman.
So perhaps Saatchi is being clever by allowing it on his website. Karl Marx said history always repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Udaiyan has turned a shocking image that got Saatchi accused of marital violence into a silly joke about the art world. The tiny perspective of Stuckism turns Saatchi back into what he always used to be: the man art traditionalists love to hate. Compared with his recent reputation, that's cosy. Unfortunately for Saatchi, few people share this strange point of view from which physically attacking someone is a trivial matter compared with the real crime of buying and selling conceptual art.So perhaps Saatchi is being clever by allowing it on his website. Karl Marx said history always repeats itself, the first time as tragedy, the second as farce. Udaiyan has turned a shocking image that got Saatchi accused of marital violence into a silly joke about the art world. The tiny perspective of Stuckism turns Saatchi back into what he always used to be: the man art traditionalists love to hate. Compared with his recent reputation, that's cosy. Unfortunately for Saatchi, few people share this strange point of view from which physically attacking someone is a trivial matter compared with the real crime of buying and selling conceptual art.