Charles Saatchi gained notoriety after being photographed with his hands around the neck of his then wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson outside a restaurant.
The art collector and gallery owner seems to be revelling rather than hiding from his new reputation by advertising art depicting the incident.
Saatchi’s art website hosts an open online gallery where artists can upload their work in exchange for Saatchi claiming 30% of the asking price.
It is on this website that artists have decided to use their host’s personal life as inspiration for their entries not wholly to his displeasure.
Saatchi has replied to criticism regarding said pieces telling the Mail on Sunday that: ‘Would it have been a better story if I had censored artists whose work might be personally disobliging?’
He continued to stress that of the 40,000 active artists who publicise on his website, only a few have decided to refer to his relationship with Ms Lawson.
Darren Udaiyan who painted a Van Gogh and Simpsons inspired piece wittily entitled ‘Saatchi & Saatchi’ spoke of the painting: ‘It’s not really controversial, Saatchi is strangling Nigella but it’s also about him squeezing the art market.
‘It works on many levels, it’s a comment on the art market and how people control it.’
The pieces have been slammed by charity Women’s Aid, who said the inclusion of the paintings was ‘extremely insensitive’ to victims of domestic violence.
The Chief Curator of SaatchiArt.com, Rebecca Wilson, defended the website’s policy towards the art it hosts saying: ‘Saatchi Art does not believe in censorship unless the material is pornographic or incites racial hatred’.
