as llaryey”s .llyru. but she feels no kinship with the eontroyersial artist.
‘Well of course they're similarf she says 'But the whole way I‘ve done the piece is different. The scale is very different. lle‘s sensationalised her straight away and that‘s probably the major element to the work. I‘m trying to say more than "Wow! I can shock you":
'l‘raeey limin. herself no stranger to eontroyersy. is quick to defend llaryey's work and to question ()rr"s motiyes — although she concedes that she needs to see Once More ll'iI/I I’ve/incl. to‘iudge it eritieally.
"l‘he .\lyra llindley painting wasn't made to shock. it was a social eomment.~ she says. ‘When people open up the Daily .llirmr or The Sun and she‘s on the front page. they aren‘t shoeked. Why should these bourgeois people who go to art galleries he shoeked to see it on a grand seale'.’ It reminds us what aetual eyil took place. and actually did .\lyra llindley more harm than good.
"l‘hat painting and all its eontroyersy will keep her behind hars foreyer. ller parole was coming up at the same time. and the outrage at the painting shows the public disdain for her. So it actually seryed a positiye rather than negatiye purpose. The arrogant people demonstrating outside just didn't get it.‘
She continues: '.-\s for someone making art about the West house. in a way I think that person is doing that for a puerile shoek taetie. Are people tackling the issues or are they getting some sort of artistic kick out of other people's misery'."
.lessiea 'l‘ownshend. whose play Turns (list/ruse was based on the West ease and recently played at London's llampstead 'fheatre. argues that Fred West and similarly ‘tahoo‘ subjects are valid for artistic treatment.
"l‘hese eyents are part of our
national life. so are worthy of
c‘o\‘et'age and explanation.’ she says. 'lf you don‘t look at them. you're letting the tabloids haye the last word..
Whether works like .llyru and ()II(‘(’ More ll'it/I I’ve/[Ire are
challenging and esploratiye or
simply selling outrage hy the pound is an argument that won't he settled easily. Perhaps it is simply that. in an age where we peruse the mangled wreckage of our fairy-tale princesses oyer our eornflakes. art heeomes more extreme as we become harder to shoek.
Once More With Feeling is at the Collective Gallery, Cockburn Street, Edinburgh, until Sat 14 Mar.
SHOCK ART
The art images that have shocked the world.
Piss Christ
Lapsed CathoLx‘ Andrea Serrano outraged the US re..g:ous :ohhy it: 1989 With ths photograph. of a p.ast.c Cl‘uCliX piaced :r‘. a gass of its own urine. A RODUDEICdY‘. senator tOre ul) a reproductzor‘. or‘. the Senate floor, wh..e the Rev Donald W..oi‘.‘.or‘. saw P/ss‘ Christ as a portent of a new era of 'phystca. persecaton of
Cnrstan ’. Last October, whge ;t was or: d.s‘piay Ii". Aastraiza, two yotiths smashed ;ts perspex covenng.
Zygotic acceleration, biogenetic, de-sublimate Iibidinal model
Brothers at art, D:nos and Jake Chapman mutate girl mannequats. Anases replace mooths, erect penzses act as noses. Park, pre-pubescent and naked, the fused bodes
and transplanted sexual organs are
nightmarish, The Chaprnans are aCCused of making art for the dirty mac brigade and feeding paedophrhac fantasies at illlS work, part of Sensation at the Royal Academy
Myra
The mother of' Moors \.-'.( Z:.'t‘. Keth Bennett (lt‘thtttKh-‘(l a ooycott, demonstrators ()(iiftt‘f'Od outsde the Roya Academy a: dzsgost, and I."..-\ was thrown at the canvas Marcus Harvey's portrat ot' Myra Hittde was the most controversa. \york ..". Sensation, shown .ast year The .r'1aqe, ..t'ted from a 60s newspaper mooshot, was reproduced using a tempate of a ch.:d's riarid
Away From The Flock
Dul)l)(,‘(l the formaldehyde Kd, Ddtt‘..(,‘l‘. Harst .s to > artst \\'.".() has :rtcerisec: a:1:rr‘a.-§overs to the 00.711 that they pray ‘or ."..S tiiood. Sharks, sheep, gigs and (()\.‘-.’s nave a:. (t().".(‘ through the r :rst preservative process Art ot’ ,r~tr'.‘.o.ra..‘.y, or art ahotit ritortazty, rl.rst's dead art..'7:a:s are st.!ied-..fe tor the moderr‘ ade
6 T9 1998THE lIST13