Killer art: Chopper Read's 'Avant-garde' collection
Yahoo!7
October 12, 2011, 5:05 pm
http://au.news.yahoo.com/local/vic/full-coverage/carl-williams/a/-/article/10454381/killer-art-chopper-read-s-avant-garde-collection/
Celebrity underworld figure Mark Chopper Read's new career as an artist has taken a new twist.
His paintings are not to everyone's taste, and neither is the venue chosen to put on his latest exhibition.
His new 'post-modernist' collection is being exhibited in one of Melbourne's oldest brothels, and one with a history involving Mark himself.
"Me and mad Charlie robbed this place back when it was a double-storey house in 1973," he told 7News.
The convicted murderer says he's now a changed man, his art inspired by Archibald prize winner, Adam Cullen.
But he still isn't sure what the artist meant when calling the work Avant-garde.
"He said 'you'd be the only artist in Australia that's got his pieces hanging in a licensed brothel'.....'yes', he said, 'it would be Avant-garde'," Mark said.
Chopper's painting The Banker, The Bully and The Boss is the most expensive piece in the exhibition, going for $4,000.
Also featured, The Painting, Flowers for Alphonse Gangitano, and another called Flowers for Carl Williams, both murdered underworld figures involved in Chopper's past.
"I didn't send any flowers to their funeral, so I thought I'd do a painting," he said.
Venue owner Nathan Pooley told 7News: "His history, which has totally been ingrained in our culture...I think that's what increases the price."
A percentage of all sales will go to charity.
