CRITICS of modern art were given fresh ammunition yesterday after an artist offered for #15,000, flecks of paint from the room where Anne Frank hid from the Nazis .
Richard Levy is also touting a beer bottle Liam Gallagher is said to have drunk from on his wedding night for #750, and a strand purportedly from Pamela Anderson's tee-shirt for #1200.
Also on offer for #350 is a cigarette pack wrapper discarded by Scary Spice Mel B. All four are on display in an installation at the Royal College of Art in Kensington, London.
Its creator, hard-up MA student Richard Levy claims he is not mocking modern art but merely taking it into the 21st century.
Australian born Mr Levy, 26, spends most of his spare time in celebrity hang-outs hoping to pick-up an object discarded by the stars.
He said: ''I expect people will deny that I am an artist and deny my vision and my work. But really I am just holding up a mirror to society and the way it values the cult of the celebrity. My work is a critique and a celebration of that cult. This is the future of contemporary art.
''My vision of art is not someone like Van Gogh painting away in a room on his own. Its more of a production line.''
Asked to justify the Anne Frank item he said: ''There were bits of paint hanging off so I just slipped my fingernails underneath, pulled it off and put them into a bag.
''People will perceive me as a vandal, but I am the one who did and that is why I am offering it for sale. I agree that anyone could visit that house because it is a museum but I am the one who did it and they didn't.''
He has exhibited each item in a police style crime bag and argues that his work is art examining the cult of celebrity.
He compares his work to the memorabilia on display at Planet Hollywood, the Hard Rock cafe or the Fashion Cafe.
''People who go there can never be sure that what they are looking at is the real thing.
''I have no authenticity certificate for my items either but I would still compare my work to those places.''
Explaining the origin of Liam Gallagher's Becks beer bottle he said: ''My friend is a night-porter in the hotel where they stayed on their wedding night. He was taking crates of Becks up to him all night and he brought this one back for me.''
Mr Levy said he picked up Pamela Anderson's cotton thread while spotting her walking down the street with her mother in Melrose, Los Angeles.
He said: ''Someone just said 'look there's Pamela Anderson' so not surprisingly we went over for a closer look As she walked past us she was fiddling with the T-shirt she was wearing and she flicked the thread onto the ground.''
Mr Levy got Mel B's cigarette pack wrapper while listening to his local London radio station which announced the Spice Girls would be appearing later that day.
He said: ''I went down to the radio station and as the Spice Girls were coming down Mel B was opening a packet of cigarettes so I just picked up the wrapper.''
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