London: Art collector and advertising honcho Charles Saatchi, who was in the news for throttling his wife Nigella Lawson in public, has put up artworks interpreting the scenes on sale through his own website, saatchiart.com.
smh.com reported that the disturbing works show images of a distressed Nigella in various drawings and paintings, including one with a smirking Saatchi against a colourful backdrop. Another image is titled Art Collector Throttling a Cook. Another. Last Course, features Nigella on a chopping board, in a pop-art style with a thought bubble stating “So this is how it all ends,” smh.com reported.
The paintings are priced between $250 and $30,000, and Saatchi gets a reported 30 per cent commission, it said. But Mr Saatchi is seemingly unfazed by the paintings. In an email to The Mail on Sunday, he said: ‘Would it have been a better story if I had censored artists whose work might be personally disobliging?”
Dailymail.com quoted Polly Neate, chief executive of Women’s Aid, as saying, “Domestic violence is not a trivial matter. It is extremely insensitive to all victims of domestic violence for someone who has accepted a police caution for assaulting a partner to earn commission on images of the offence. We are shocked that anyone would want to make a profit from images of abuse.”
Saatchi was cautioned for assault following the attack in June last year, and the pair divorced seven weeks later.
