West by Derek Bateman

Is that really Fred West?? Odd subject to choose in a way as I think I would rather forget about him rather than have him immortalised! I don't mean to detract from your skill and artistry at all - you have done a good job.

Yes it is Fred West I have been playing around with colour on Iconic images to try to loose their identity. I accept that these images do not sit well with many people, We would all rather forget many people Hitler etc. etc. to deny they exist is to deny what they did wrong. Society needs to remind itself of the potential evil of man and the potential evil in us all. My thoughts only, being in the same room as these images has a profound impact on your state of mind as does painting them. Derek Thanks for the comment.

I'd be interested to know how you actually achieve these paintings - tell us more. As to subjects: well - there's evil, and there's just human weakness and criminal self-indulgence. A total absence of moral restraint can lead to evil actions, although whether that makes the perpetrator intrinsically evil or interesting is a moot point. I looked at the face of HImmler once - and wondered whether to draw it; did, in the event, but found his uniform a lot more interesting than he was. Whatever that tells you..... The trouble with most, if not all, people who commit hideous crimes is that they're just not interesting as people - stupid, brutalized and brutal, but essentially unreachably dim-witted. I need to have some respect for or at least empathy with my subject .... but that isn't true for everyone....Anyway! Each to his own..