marc quinn

she did a monstrosity to commemorate Oscar Wilde somewhere off Trafalgar Square

Classical art istraditionally held up as the apotheosis of western art, certainly its origin. They are what our traditional sense of artisitic beauty is based upon - reality, representation, literalness etc. People with limb deformities have been traditionally treated as ugly, crippled etc. Both of these perspectives have undergone a substantial change over the last 150 years; classical art has lost it's prime place in the canon, cripples are now accepted as regular folk.

Quinn is therefore dealing with one of two things - either he is saying that people with limb deformities are just as beautiful and important as the people who are tradtionally represented by classical art or he is saying that classical art is treated as a cripple in today's art world where it has little credence. The former is simplistic, bland and overly utopian, the latter is just stupid and insensitive.

I read an interview with her this morning and sh ecertainly doesn't seem patronised or offended by it, in fact the only peeve she seems to have is that it's not one of her own works going up.

I think the resonances are fantastic and subtle and powerful.

Your point about postioning it beside Nelson is valid. It is an interesting comparison which perhaps could have been made more interesting by using one of the more celebrated subjects (i.e. the atheletes). The Chapman Brother's 'Ubermensch' (Stephen Hawking thingy) would be a more effective way of making the same point if displayed here - the materials, technique and subject are all late 20th century updates of the same process of celebration that went into Nelson's scuplture.

This is exactly like the Aimee Mullins/Matthew Barney collaboration.

Suzy, put yourself in Lapper's position. Your own body is so fucked by drugs that you have no arms and penguin legs. You can't do much. But one thing you can do is have a healthy child. It makes a huge difference to your life. As, I'd imagine, does becoming a new national hero in Trafalgar Square.

Bill Hicks

is this a return to the cult of mother hood...and i think that suzy is right when she says semen=holy water, and how wanky it is.

This is the semen Grinch.

Whenever you see this sign, you must stop discusing semen.

When the Grinch appears, quickly and calmly leave the place where you have been semenizing.

Use escape hatches as indicated by Grinch staff.

Leave all valuables and baggage behind.