"KEEP YOUR SOPHISTICATED MUSING BEHIND CLOSED DOORS"

Last week I was impressed by the antagonistic and provocative manner the artwork depicting Josef Fritzl was displayed in a Bethnal Green shop window (see below). This week I’m less impressed by the seemingly yellow-bellied ease they rolled over and capitulated from the inevitable backlash.

Was it hordes of frenzied torch burning Cockneys storming the barricades in furious indignation? Er, no. The work in question has been replaced by this (admittedly funny) missive from a semi-literate “London resident”. And I quote: “To whom it may concern, If the picture of Hans Fritzel is ment to be ironic, then it is in extremely bad taste. Please keep your sophisticated musing behind closed doors. This is not appriate for a shop window. Name blanked out. (London resident)”.

The lipsticked “Fuck you Fritzl” has been smudged to read “Love you Fritzl”.

Trips to the off license have scarcely been so entertaining.

Neon and All Things Electric @ Neon and Sign Writers.Com, 278 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, E2

NEON AND ALL THINGS ELECTRIC

“Disgrace!” I can see the headlines now. “Trendy artist mocks victims of sick pervert Josef Fritzl”.

As the arty world of Shoreditch and Hoxton spreads to Haggerston, Hackney and Bethnal Green there are so many small galleries that you hardly notice them anymore. All apart from the “Neon and All Things Electric” exhibition at the Neon and Signwriters space on Cambridge Heath Road. This dramatically captures the eye of more than just the Hoxton Hipsters.

Slap bang in the window is a three foot by two foot photograph (you know the one) of Josef Fritzl. Unless you’ve been locked in a dungeon for 24 years being raped by your father, you don’t need me to tell you who he is. Top right corner is the Apple logo with their slogan “Think Differently”. That’s it. One minute on photoshop, a willing gallery not too frightened to have their window put through, and you’ve got instant notoriety. Yeah, it is sensationalistic and deliberately provocative but it’s stuck in my brain since I first passed it yesterday and made me think. And judging by the countless folk I’ve witnessed taking photos of it from the street, it’s soon going to gather interest wider than the Hackney Gazette. Today someone had scrawled “Fuck You Fritzl” in bright red lipstick on the window outside, which was a nice addition. As “art” it’s hardly up there with Marcus Harvey’s Myra Hindley children's hand painting but gets a Tony Hart (bless him) thumbs up from me.

The work itself is by Matt Collishaw and I should say the exhibition does feature works by other artists but they were all (including Emin) made to look like a supporting cast.

Neon and All Things Electric @ Neon and Sign Writers.Com, 278 Cambridge Heath Road, Bethnal Green, E2