2. Anthony-Noel Kelly – Body Snatching
This British artist and nephew of the Duke of Norfolk, made casts depicting body parts for an exhibition at the London Contemporary Art Fair in 1997. The problem was that the works were not a depiction, as Kelly had stolen anatomical specimens from the Royal College of Surgeons to fabricate the moulds for his morbid sculptures. When the artist had got the body parts back to his studio, he created the moulds and produced a series of plaster casts that were coated in silver. But once the casts of the dead were completed, Kelly had to work out what to do with the illicit remains. Rather than return the body parts, and potentially get caught for his immoral acts, the ‘resurrection man’ buried remains on his family’s estate. The artist also hid body parts in the London home of a friend, and in the attic of his own home. Police began investigating Kelly in 1997, after his exhibit received controversial publicity, subsequently the artist was found guilty and sentenced to nine months in prison. Kelly claimed to police to have consecrated the soil before burial. But even though it was reported that someone had actually recognised their dead relative when viewing the artist’s work, due to a legal technicality, Kelly was able to regain the silver casts of the stolen dead that the police had confiscated. In Artlyst’s opinion, the artist was less ‘Hare’ and more ‘Burke’.