Simon's Blog

Over the coming days and weeks there will be ever more lurid stories printed about the disgraced, no strike that, pervert Rolf Harris.  There may well be some people who are willing to stick there heads above the parapit and try and excuse, in some way, his behaviour.  There will be others who are only too willing to pile into the man for his crimes whilst forgetting their own role in his veneration. (For evidence of this take a look at this interview with the newly knighted Sir Jimmy Savile and how Lynne Barber was castigated back in 1990 for even suggesting any impropriety – also note all the great and good, including the NSPCC,  were willing to embrace Savile)  The connection between Savile and Harris?  Well the latest story doing the rounds was that Harris joined Savile on his rounds of the Broadmoor female wards when they were getting ready for bed.  I have no idea whether this is true or not but it was reported in todays papers.

So what insight can I give to all this?  None at all.  I only knew both men through their media personna and it is this that I find most interesting.   Up until today I had no real interest to make an image of Harris.  I stumbled upon a very crowded exhibition of his work at Liverpool and found it uninspiring but was really shocked to see how popular his art was.  I was even more shocked to see the astonishing prices being asked for his paintings and drawings – I wonder if they will hold their value now?  Now I am motivated to make the image – partly motivated by the blanket coverage here in the UK.  Am I leaping on the bandwagon or just as human as the next person who is drawn to these fascinating case?  I suspect it is the later although to the victims of his crimes I doubt they saw the whole proceedings as fascinating more likely traumatic in the extreme.

So we are all strange creatures – drawn like a month to the light of fame and infamy in almost similar degrees.  The Savile and Harris affair, I suspect they will become linked in the public mind, should remind us all that just because you see someone on the tele or in films they are no more perfect than any other one of us.  In fact it could be argued that they are a bit strange to want to be the centre of such attention anyway – I know I wouldn’t want to be a ‘star’.  Maybe this might make ‘stars’ behaviour themselves a bit more and not take advantage of their star status – I suspect this is a vain hope.

So my final thought on all this sad affair is a strange one.  Making this image I have great admiration for the court artists who have to produce drawings based on what happened in court.  Of course with someone like Harris it must have been quite easy to practice getting a likeness before the trial starts.  Nonetheless, their work will be the record of the court case will no doubt last as the permanent record of the whole case.  Maybe it will make their art works as valuable as Harris’s was/are?