The Art Newspaper

The Chapmans' sculpture of Adolf Hitler

What better way to spend a rain-drenched British summer than playing crazy golf. At the Grundy Art Gallery in Blackpool, visitors can putt their way around nine "holes" made by high-profile artists such as David Shrigley and Gary Webb ("Doug Fishbone and Friends: Adventureland Golf", until 6 October). And what have those japester Chapman brothers come up with? A statue of Hitler which raises its arm in a Nazi salute and screams "Nein!" every time the golf ball goes through a hole cut out of the dictator's waistline. Michael Samuels from the Board of Deputies of British Jews' told The Guardian that the piece had "absolutely no artistic value whatsoever". The gallery website says, however: "The Chapmans saluting Adolf Hitler places the powerful image of the Nazi regime within the context of holiday fun and in doing so makes reference to the British wartime spirit of making humour at the fuehrer’s expense." But Hitler is not the only tyrant on show. Doug Fishbone has recreated the toppling of the gargantuan Saddam Hussein statue in Baghdad in 2003.

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