Though Jake and Dinos Chapman's artworks generally include children--well, child-lookin' demonspawn with dicks for noses--it's rarely been for children. Now for some indiscernible reason, the Guardian's G2Kids section is sponsoring a colouring contest for kids ages 6-13. The winners [only UK residents are eligible, alas] will receive signed copies of the Chapmans' new colouring book, plus a set of pencils.
Frankly, I wasn't a fan of their banal shock schtick before having a kid, and reading their interview accompanying the contest doesn't change that:
"Our interest is in what adults do to children and the image of innocence they project on to them," Jake continues. "Our thought about children is that they're pretty much psychotic, and that through sweets and other forms of coercion they are civilised." Spoken, I say, like a father. "Like a father of three," he says. (Dinos has two daughters.)Would Jake be happy for his kids, aged between three and 11, to see the show? "Of course. There are definitely things I wouldn't want them to see, and which I will protect them from seeing. But the things we've imagined in our art are anaemic compared with what kids imagine. I know it was a long time ago that we were kids [Jake was born in 1962, Dinos in 1966], but we were never innocents, were we?"Anyway, the whole contest/"colouring-in book" thing coincides with the opening tomorrow of of the Children's Art Commission exhibition by the Chapmans at the Whitechapel Gallery.
Let me just go on the record here as hating the crap out of Scribd, too.
The Jake and Dinos Chapman Colouring Competition, entries must be received by Mon. Aug. 16 [guardian.co.uk/g2kids]
How the Chapman Brothers became the brothers grim [guardian.co.uk/g2kids]
Buy Jake and Dino's Colouring Book now via the Whitechapel's webshop, or via Amazon UK, where it goes on sale Aug. 31. [whitechapelgallery.org, amazon.co.uk]
