A rigging yarn that cuts to the quick

A rigging yarn that cuts to the quick

http://entertainment.timesonline.co.uk/article/0,,14934-1686216,00.html

July 10, 2005
By AA Gill

Rolf Harris: a name that is to the art world what woodworm is to an antiques shop.

Purely by accident, I caught sight of him in Africa last Sunday, daubing fake San rock art and terrifying Ghanaian children with his chronic musical panting, which always sounds so unpleasantly suggestive. And then, the all-round entertainer was off carving an Ashanti stool. “I’m thinking of doing a Jake the Peg thing with this and giving it a third leg, ” he breathlessly told us, before mentioning that Picasso liked an African mask, and finally painting, in acrylic, a hideous, cheap, plagiarising, crassly patronising, culturally steam-rolling postcard picture of a colourful woman with a baby strapped to her back that defied either irony or excuse.

All this coming the day after Live 8 was a bit of a shock. Haven’t they suffered enough? Is the price of making poverty history importing cultural poverty? What has Africa done to deserve Rolf on African Art (Sunday, BBC1), on top of everything else? Some time ago, I said that it was difficult to hate Rolf Harris, but that we should persevere, because he is probably the devil.

What do you think the devil is going to look like — Vincent Price? Peter Mandelson? No, he’s going to be Rolf Harris. Since I wrote that, we’ve had a couple of stern letters from my learned friends and, as a consequence, have to publish this correction: “The devil has never at any time taken on, doppelgängered or in any way occupied the persona of Mr Rolf Harris. The devil takes strong exception to the implication that he might be or might use the methods of Mr Harris.

“The devil has always appeared solely and only as himself and is the author of all his own work. Furthermore, he never dabbles in cultural abomination. There are strict rules about that sort of thing.

“He is evil, but you’ve got to draw the line somewhere.”

Well, I’m happy to put that straight and offer an unconditional apology.