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[3.9.06] [Andrew Gallix]
COMIC STRIP CLUB OR HELL HATH NO FURY...
 Today's Independent on Sunday reports on the "vicious feud" between Stuckist co-founder (and 3:AM friend) Charles Thomson and his former wife, artist Stella Vine:
"As an act of naked revenge, it is a work of art. The artist Stella Vine, who found fame when Charles Saatchi took her under his wing, is laid bare by her former husband in a series of explicit, humiliating nude portraits at a major exhibition. The artworks will reignite a simmering feud between Vine and Charles Thomson, which has seen them trading verbal salvos in media interviews without actually exchanging a word with each other. Thomson -- co-founder of anti-conceptual art movement the Stuckists -- himself concedes the works will leave her 'pissed off' and 'angry'. His paintings, to be exhibited at the Stuckists' first major central London exhibition, are titled simply Stripper and Strip Club, though it is clear who inspired them. The publicity material for the show, which opens next month, even spells out that they are 'explicit images of his ex-wife'. They will be seen by many as an act of revenge for the brevity of their marriage. Thomson, 53, said the works were not intended as a public attack, more a way of privately dealing with his own emotions through his art after their relationship crumbled.
...Thomson, who stood for Parliament in 2001 against the then Culture secretary Chris Smith, has not spoken to his former wife for four years, although they have traded vicious barbs in newspaper interviews. She has claimed he 'exploited' her and is 'full of shit', while he has branded her 'a mercurial character who thinks nothing about he pain she puts others through'. Thomson said it was the gallery that chose to exhibit the nudes, but he was unapologetic about showing them in public. 'She will probably be very pissed off. She'll be angry and very upset because it is one rule for her and another for everyone else. She expects people to understand when she does it. She does Diana with blood coming out of her mouth and looking traumatised and it's fine, but that woman is a mother and her children are still alive. She claims it comes from deep within her and it is the same with my pictures. It comes from deep within me and it is important. If she does feel upset, it can't be half as upset as the parents of Rachel Whitear or Diana's sons."
You'll find details of the Stuckists' London show here.
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