Charles Saatchi could profit from his highly publicized choking incident with ex-wife Nigella Lawson.
The British businessman and Saatchi Gallery co-owner, 71, is depicted grabbing the throat of the famous chef, 50, in several works sold by his gallery, reports the Daily Mail.
Despite the website’s policy of prohibiting “offensive” or “defamatory” art, the pieces (which range in price from $90 to $30,000) are still available for sale.
“Would it have been a better story if I had censored artists whose work might be personally disobliging?” wrote Saatchi in an email to the Daily Mail Sunday about the questionable art.
Artist Darren Udaiyan, whose Van Gogh-style painting is priced at $30,000, says the art isn’t about the domestic violence pictured.
“It’s not really controversial,” said Udaiyan. “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 pair were originally photographed at Scotts restaurant in London in June 2013. Saatchi called the incident a “playful tiff.”
But the photographer who captured the incident felt differently: “It was so violent, with such force, that her head snapped backwards. I was taking pictures the whole time.”
Their 10-year marriage quickly came to an end on July 31, 2013.
A year later, Saatchi was photographed having dinner at the same table with a new female friend, Trinny Woodall.