Why Kaye is down and out on his luck

The Diary is a keen collector of Modern Art. Indeed, one cupboard in The Diary’s palatial basement flat is full of dead sheep and formaldehyde. Sorry, that should be “in” formaldehyde; there, that’s better.

Anyway, keen as ever to be seen walking art’s glistening knife edge, The Diary has been thinking of stumping up some cash to buy Roger Powell – now on sale for 1,000 at the Design and Art Direction Festival of Excellence at the Saatchi Gallery. Powell is homeless and has been put on sale by the enfant terrible of the ad world, Tony Kaye.

Kaye is an artist. “If I say something is art, then it’s art; because I’m an artist,” he told a bewildered Newsnight last week. So putting Powell on sale is an ironic comment on contemporary values. But, let’s face it, Kaye is an ad man at heart and Damien Hirst’s sheep in formaldehyde sold for 25 times the “value” placed on Powell. So how long will it be until we see “tramp-in-formaldehyde” – because if Kaye says it’s art, then it is? Isn’t it?