Was this wrong?
 

Was the British olympic commission wrong to include Marcus Harvey's portrait 'Myra' as part of a presentation promoting Britain's hosting the 2012 games?

Obviously it was designed to pesent Britain as a 'happening' cultural centre, but is showcasing a painting of an infamous child murderer the right way to do it?

Here's the painting:



And here's a couple of links about the portrait, and Hindley herself. For those that aren't aware of the controversy surrounding either:


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Marcus_Harvey

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myra_Hindley

I've seen that painting in the flesh, and it's fairly dull, ersatz controversial nonsense. To address yer main question - no, it's an absurd idea, dreamt up by some coke-snorting wankers, who haven't thought for a second about the impact that this will have on the families of Lesley Ann Downey, Keith Bennett and Edward Evans.

I agree. I don't mind the painting itself but an art gallery is not the same as a sports arena. Clearly a case of trendy Blairites getting 'down' by playing the controversy card. Expect some serious sackings in the next couple of days.

Yes.

No.

Maybe.

i pissed myself laughing when i heard this... seriously tho.. thats an unbelievable cock up by someone.. who thought that would be a good idea!!!!!

its like the irish tourist board showing a clip of the dublin bombings in 1974

funny out situation....

I thought the Britain presentation was really tacky.

Olympics in London. I can see it now, another series of Beatles reissues. Special commemorative Olympic LP pressings or some such shit. Christ.

I hear Gacy's clowns are being used to promote the circus.

No. I don't have a problem with it.
There's a big difference between an art piece and a booking photo.

I don't care, it's a piece of crap anyway.

fuckin a right

nothing sez "culture" like child murder

thumbs up

i'd hit it

It's with a degree of irony this is being discussed on this forum; cos hey- heres another one for you - was it 'right' for Raymond Pettibon to use an image of Maureen Hindley (Myra's sister and witness in trial) on the front cover of Sonic Youth's Goo?

http://farm2.static.flickr.com/1151/...09a8e7.jpg?v=0

eh weve known this for decades please no rehashes awwwww

ha! touchee and good point.......... they did americanized it tho i mean the type on the cover didnt say "i borrowd my sisters special friend it was drizzly and damp within a fortnight we told our mothers to "go away" and we went and drank some tea"

ha ha!!!

i have to post this....

BLOUSE- ME OH MYRA


"POGO ON THAT YOU TWAT"

Ha, oh yes I'd forgotten about that; brilliant!

If it happened to represent the best of British art, the subject wouldn't matter. Having said that, the subject of the painting is always going to ruffle feathers. Ultimately, it's an insensitive oversight, but certainly not shitstorm-worthy.

You're right, it isn't. But this was used in an event that had the world media as its target. (it appeared alongside David Beckham kicking a ball and Leona Lewis singing a song). The tabloids were always gonna create a shit-storm out of something like that. If i wear a nazi armband at an S&M club, I'm a kinky twat. If I wear one at a Jackie Mason concert, i'm just a prat.

I'd say that's fair play - Hindley's sister never did anything to anyone.

The media in this country love to play the "Hyndley" card, tis true - still, as Glice says, it is monstrously insensitive to the families of those murdered, and shame on those who thought of the whole stupid idea in the first place.

Just once I'd like some minor, insensitive oversight that no-one would've noticed otherwise to go without the full Daily Mail treatment. I was watching TV at the time, and I don't remember seeing it. It must've been in fairly soft-focus. Using the painting is insensitive, but regurgitating the Hindley story must be more upsetting for the families concerned.

I couldn't have put it better myself, Glice.

i don't have a problem with it.
it's just a fucking painting.

Cantankers - it's not the painting that's the issue (it's a pretty meh painting, having seen it myself), it's who it's of and what it represents. Myra Hindley and Ian Brady are still hugely controversial figures in the UK, for many reasons - for the best info on the whole case, try and pick up a copy of "Beyond Belief".

One thing I really like about the painting concerned is that it has precisely the sort of draftsmanship that the Daily Mail bemoans modern art as lacking. That little irony does make me chuckle.

i know who they are and what they did and all that. but really, i mean come on. it's a stupid thing to get upset over.

Cantankers - well, Glice has got the media thing spot on, which I accept. Personally, to be honest, I'm not wildly upset over it, just pissed off at the thoughtlessness of the people who organised this in the first place.

i agree with cantankerous. and bringing up the sonic youth cover art is stupid. it's an ALBUM cover, what do you expect? people like to ruffle feathers in the music world. the olympics is supposed to be about people from all countries engaging in friendly competition and hopefully learning about each each in the process. the point is not to ruffle feathers - quite the opposite, actually.

but i still agree that it's a stupid thing to get upset over. it's insensitive in some ways but if britan wants to make themselves look like culturally insensitive pricks, by all means, let them dig their own grave. (and i'm not saying this being anti-english, if any country did this i would say the same thing)

well. people fuck up.

Cantankers - Yeah, you're right there

bow_howdy - w/you on yer first paragraph. Re the second - it's not the Brits in general, but certainly our newspapers/media have the cultural intelligence of your average housebrick.

One of the sad things about all this is indeed the way it's given the tabloids yet another opportunity to attack contemporary British art.

Although I'd like to take this opportunity to say that I found Boris Johnson's Olympic speech one of the funniest I've heard in a long time. "Ping pong's coming home" indeed!

i just don't understand what everyone is complaining about?

fuck the tabloids and fuck the olympics. just ignore it. remain neutral. etc.

Yeah, but surely a major part of the fun of life is to exploit one's ability to complain unnecessarily about shit that doesn't really matter.

With Gary Glitter's recent release from jail, it surely was a missed opportunity to not have him sing a tune during the handover ceremony...

He was already in Asia even, so aside from representing the best of British culture it would also be a chance to keep flight distances to a minimum and promote London 2012 as "environmentally aware".

Tories might be scumbags, but they do bumbling toffs better than anyone else (cf Prince Philip).

I like Boris. I really do. Not saying he should be in politics, but fuck. A man has to make a living.

If he wasn't actually mayor of London I'd really want him to be mayor of London. I sometimes wonder if it's all a dream and he's secretly not a child's blood drinking tory.

this just made me LOL for real. thumbs up.

I don't massively think it was a wrong of SY or Pettibon to use this image, I was just digging up another related issue to stir up discussion a bit, however, if there is an arguement for immorality with using these images, I reckon the fact that Maureen was innocent makes it an intrusion on her privacy for her to turn up on an album cover. Pettibon was sexing up a horrific child murder case, it would have been better to use Myra's image seeing as shes a sub-human peice of scum and has no right or objection to her image being used. Maureen, however was caught up in it and innocent, and I think that makes it kinda wrong, but again, not something I feel particularly strong about..