The Buck Stopped Here: Beverly Hills John strolls into Mayfair with an explicit buggy and a Botoxed Lassie

The ageless film director John Waters, who flew into town to celebrate the first London showing of his works at Sprüth Magers, appeared better preserved than his facially adjusted Beverly Hills alter ego, currently hanging on the gallery’s walls. Overall, Mr. W confirmed that he had lost none of his power to provoke with such taboo-busting pieces as a surgically reconstructed Lassie; a bleak image of John and Jackie Kennedy pursued out of their official plane by the grim reaper; and a new kiddie-friendly script of his classic flick Pink Flamingos (1972) recited by loveable little moppets as if it were their homework. At the slap up dinner (round the corner at Bellamy's in Mayfair) the great man regaled his fellow diners—who included chat-show supremo and devoted Waters fan Graham Norton and Whitechapel Gallery director Iwona Blazwick—with the explanation behind one of his more eye-catching pieces. Apparently the baby buggy emblazoned with the explicit logos of San Francisco’s more adventurous gay bars came about when, on his recent visits to the city, Waters noticed that all the former clientele of these establishments were now pushing their newly created progeny in strollers. But Waters mischievously added that all the bars featured in the piece were nonetheless still doing a brisk trade…