Artist plans to burn Tony Blair's memoirs in Battersea on 9/11

As American pastor Terry Jones’s plan to burn the Koran dominates headlines, artist Navraj Sihra, who is currently showcasing his work at Acquire Arts on 155 Battersea Park Road, says Tony Blair’s A Journey memoir should be burned instead.

Mr Sihra is “considering burning” a copy of the former PM’s memoirs at Acquire Arts today, seeing it as “a protest to a man who has killed hundreds of thousands of human beings and is ...  totally forgiven for ‘getting it wrong’ on weapons of mass destruction.”

The artist’s plan to burn Mr Blair’s book won’t be the first time he has sparked controversy.  Mr Sihra, who has described his artwork as “emotionalism,” expressing his “innermost feelings”, created a stir when his work When Love Cuts, painted in his own blood, was displayed at the Medway Arts Centre in 1992. This painting demonstrates the pain of unrequited love. Click to the second picture to see it.

He explained his process: “I persuaded a doctor to siphon off a pint [of my blood] and using a natural ingredient I created subtle shades and hues.”

Another painting Mr Sihra painted was Emotional Defence (the first picture in the gallery above). He created it immediately after 9/11. It aims to show “the rawness one feels when any human suffering unfolds,” but also convey “human strength and resilience in the face of adversity”.

We went along to Mr Sihra’s showcase at Acquire Arts on Battersea Park Road and found it interesting speaking to him about his paintings, which demonstrate feelings towards hard-hitting topics like politics and love (as explained above), to moments in time, for example, his painting 11.10 am captures the light Mr Sihra saw one day. (Click to the third picture above.)

Although Mr Sihra has quite a quirky style, his favourite artists are Leonardo Da Vinci and Michael Angelo, “old school” as he says.

He described our very own Battersea Power Station as “interesting to look at” and said that the people he’d met while showcasing his work in our South London town were fab.

What do you make of Mr Sihra’s plan to burn Tony Blair’s memoirs? Check out his documentary here!

His artwork will be on display until Monday 13th September at Acquire Arts on Battersea Park Road .