Ex-Stone Roses, John Squire Uses Islamic Design to Show Contempt for Celebrities

MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS
By Mike Keegan

Shipman, thought to have killed up to 215 patients before hanging himself in jail,
is represented by white stars on a brown background.

UNITED KINGDOM - Former Stone Roses star John Squire has created a new artwork inspired by Harold Shipman. The guitarist-turned-artist chose the Hyde mass murderer as one of the case studies for ‘Celebrity’, a new exhibition of abstract paintings depicting the famous and infamous. Squire uses shapes including eight-pointed stars, a traditional Islamic art symbol, to represent them. Strict Islamic teaching discourages depictions of people - instead geometric shapes and patterns are used. Squire says he chose the same technique to question whether celebrities and notorious killers have become our own modern-day ‘idols’. Squire, 48, said: “It’s a combination of my love for Islamic designs and contempt for celebrity culture. [link]