I should probably preface this post by saying that I’m firmly Team Nigella, and even though I’m so gay I’m basically an infinity on the Kinsey Scale, I still come over all funny when she brings out her luscious cream and heaves her ample bosom.
Keeping in mind that I might therefore be the tiniest bit biased in favour of Nigella, it’s probably safe to say that paintings of her being throttled fall firmly into the category of “things that are not particularly cool.”
Nigella’s ex-husband, art dealer Charles Saatchi, finds himself in hot water today, after it was discovered that his Saatchi Art website is selling paintings that riff on the incident in which he actually throttled her in front of a London restaurant last year.
The Independent reports that there are seven works in all. This one, ‘Saatchi & Saatchi’ by D Udaiyan, is currently on sale for $10,000 through the site.
Jane Kelly’s ‘Art Collector Throttling A Cook’ can be yours for a much more reasonable $2000.
When asked about the paintings, Saatchi himself was fairly short. “Would it have been a better story if I had censored artists whose work might be personally disobliging?” he snapped at an interviewer.
I guess not throttling Nigella in the first place, and then not threatening to “ruin her in any way” would be preferable to all of the above, but that’s water under the bridge at this point.
When asked if the site plans to withdraw any of the works from sale, site curator Rebecca Wilson said that “Saatchi Art does not believe in censorship unless the material is pornographic or incites racial hatred.”
Artists use Saatchi’s site to sell their works, in exchange for a 30% commission. Maybe in this case, foregoing said commission and donating it to a women’s shelter instead might not be the worst idea.
Images via Saatchi Art
