10. Marcus Harvey – Myra, 1995
The work ‘Myra’ is a large painting created by Marcus Harvey in 1995. It became notorious when it was exhibited at the ‘Sensation’ exhibition of Young British Artists at the Royal Academy of Art in 1997. The upset? well, apart from the image being of the notorious child murderer, the painting was created completely out of the handprints of small children. Myra Hindley, along with Ian Brady, was responsible for the vicious murder of five children from 1963 to 1965, so when the work was put on display at the Royal Academy, angry members of the public immediately threw eggs at it. Some see this as an over reaction stating that the painting is merely conveying the enormity of Hindley’s crime. Harvey’s agent bought the work, and sold it to Charles Saatchi for £11,000. Saatchi later sold it for an estimated £100,000. It is now owned by US commodities trader Frank Gallipoli.