A WAR-MUTILATED sculpture of Prince Harry by artist Daniel Edwards is set to go on display in a London art fair on October 11th at the Trafalgar Hotel’s Bridge Art Fair.
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The ‘memorial’ – full title “Iraq War Memorial featuring the Death of Prince Harry, the Martyr of Maysan Province” – is sure to spark controversy with members of the armed forces and Harry’s legion of fans.
PATRIOTIC
Defending the piece, his spokesperson David Kesting said it “draws inspiration from Harry’s willingness to sacrifice for his country, and the sympathy for his disappointment of an unfulfilled patriotic aspiration. This war memorial is dedicated to the brave at heart. But the brave men and women Prince Harry inspired to enlist for combat following his announcement to serve six months in Iraq are not forgotten.”
Reading the blurb from Edwards’ publicist, it is unclear whether or not this should be taken terribly seriously. More likely it is a smoke-screen for what looks very much an in-joke for the bad-of-taste community.
The release describes the exhibit thus:
“The Memorial features Prince Harry laid out before the Union Jack with pennies placed over his eyes and head rested on the Bible. The statue suggests the tragic outcome of a confrontation in Iraq’s Maysan Province with the Iranian weapons smugglers for whom Harry’s tank regiment was scheduled to patrol. Prone with his unfired gun still holstered, Prince Harry is represented clutching a bloodied flag of Wales, and holding to his heart a cameo locket of his late mother, Princess Diana, while a desert vulture perches on his boot. Harry’s head is earless, denoting the explicit threats against the Prince from militia leaders saying they planned to send him back to his grandmother without his ears.”
His severed ears form a separate piece which is to be auctioned off on ebay following the show.
NAUSEATING
Criticism has been quick to surface, not least on the website promoting the work.
“What a nauseatingly self-serving monument to a pseudo-artist’s vanity” says Simon Watney.
And Ross Meyer adds: “I’m going to do a memorial in much the same fashion, it will be of Daniel edwards wife and children. They will be laying on a bed of yankee dollars, i mean seeing as Daniel is an american artist that would be fitting. Their heads will be in their laps with smiling alqaeda members standing behind holding rusty knives. I will call it “death of the ignorant”. I will get alot of attention worldwide, just as you have, its easy to do when all you want is to insult and make false controversy. With the moral standard you have in creating this abomination, its easy to see why so many in the world want Americans dead.(that doesn’t include me)”.
Daniel Edwards is, unsurprisingly, no stranger to upsetting folk. His work ‘Paris Hilton Autopsy’ garnered him notoriety earlier this year.
