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Doherty's blood paintings
By Robert Mendick, Evening Standard Last updated at 00:00am on 05.05.06
One of Pete Doherty's blood paintings
Pictures painted by Pete Doherty using his own blood are to go on show.
The singer is to exhibit them at a London gallery and charge about £1,000 each to sell them, the Evening Standard has learned.
His friends say they help prove his innocence over claims he injected a female fan with heroin while she lay unconscious at his Hackney flat. Doherty was arrested on Saturday by police investigating a photo in The Sun, apparently showing him sticking a needle in the arm of Laura McEvoy, 21.
He faces a maximum 10-year jail sentence if prosecuted and found guilty under the Offences Against The Person Act. But Doherty, 27, claims he was actually drawing blood from Ms McEvoy to use in a painting.
The paintings shown here were completed over the past six months. They are being stored at the home of Paul Roundhill, 51, his self-styled literary agent, in Whitechapel.
Mr Roundhill said today: "I picked these pictures up at his flat in Hackney. Blood paintings are something he has done for a long time. I think they help explain the photograph of Laura. It shows he does do blood paintings." He said convent-educated Ms McEvoy was not a "druggie" but a "nice girl".
"I really don't think Pete was injecting her," he said. "It was just staged."
They can be viewed on Mr Roundhill's website balachadha.com, for a charge. Some say "balachadha" is local slang for crack cocaine. Doherty recently used blood drawn from his former manager James Mullord. Mr Mullord said: "He was very careful, he used a new needle. Pete has become very good at using the syringe, either scratching it on to the paper or spraying an area. It creates an effect a little like a Ralph Steadman cartoon."
It is understood Doherty recently sold a conventional painting for more than £1,000. He is on two years' probation for drugs possession. The Evening Standard understands he will undergo a second surgical implant next week in an attempt to combat heroin addiction.
Reader views (7)
Here's a sample of the latest views published.
well.... it is HIS art... to produce as HE wishes, in his own style...
I mean, you wouldn't say that writing music is a fine art and criticise him for his style, because the way he writes is both clever and endearing (and even if you aren't a fan, it can still be apprieciated) he is an amazing lyricist and his art has the same intellectual slur (to phrase it loosely) which reflects him as a person, it would be pointless peter making art which didn't capture the way he works....
I like it.
- Hannah, London, England
was his art really famous, or was it just because of his status that his art was recognised ? i guess we'll never know, cause his works look childish.
- Simplyy Sahh, Australia, Melbourne
Wish Pete Doherty would take his art a little more seriously. Blood painting is a fine art, not a drug infested joke...
- Mike Reams, Rochester, Pa USA
Most people, if they were found in possession of a Class A drug, would get up to seven years in prison. How come Pete Doherty hasn't yet?
- Emily, Durham, England
I love Pete.
Whatever he does is an inspiration to the world.
he is different and idavidual, and deserves everything he has achieved.
His drug habbits don't make him any less a person!
- Bianca, Devon, England
What an absolute waste of space. The sooner he is put away the better
- Simon Lock, west London
Pete doherty is iconic to today, not everybody may agree with his antics but he is one of those train wrecks who will go down in history, much like the brittish modern day Cobain, although hopefully less diasterous consequences.
I myself am fascinated, not that I look up to him or who act out any of his eventful life, especially not blood painting although it does seem like an ingenious, yet controvesial work of art, much like the artist who used feotus' but still it makes headlines and whether people love him or hate him it's generally entertainment
I also think it's ridiculous to take "influences" so seriously; parents of fans of Babyshambles will probably be consistently checking their offspring arms-whereas i myself am 15 and still intrigued rather than lured to the 'dark side' of coke and heroin.
- Chantelle Goodwin, London, England
