| By :
Martin Hofschroer
Negative comments from art critics cannot stop Rolf Harris prints being intensely popular with the British public. A number of figures in the art world told the Independent newspaper that they do not understand why people regularly buy Rolf Harris prints as they are unimpressed by the Australian's artistic style. Cultural commentator Norman Lebrecht compared Rolf to a fairground painter who was simply employed by the BBC to educate people about art because of his previous jobs presenting children's shows Rolf's Cartoon Club and Cartoon Time. He told the publication: "He is an amateur dauber in the manner of Winston Churchill and the Prince of Wales, taking his Sunday pleasure with brush in hand, yielding a reasonable likeness of no perceptual depth or creative vision." Art critic Brian Sewell told the newspaper that Rolf Harris prints had no variation and that the television personality's portrait of the Queen Elizabeth II was dreadful and the wrong shape. He said: "He paints the same picture all the time or paints the pictures in the same way... It's fine to be a Sunday painter. That is essentially what he is." Fortunately for the champion swimmer, these criticisms are few and far between and art enthusiasts look past the negative feedback and enjoy the creativity displayed in the wide variety of Rolf Harris prints. Rolf Harris prints include a range of subjects from Westminster scenes to images of Venice and portraits of Elvis Presley and Aboriginal men and women, while animals are also popular with the entertainer. The Harris family are no strangers to success as three generations have all held exhibitions of their work. George Frederick Harris, the British grandfather of Rolf, was a portrait painter who had a couple of paintings sold at Bonhams in Bath in 2005. James Forster, a picture specialist at the auction house, told the BBC that George may have been surprised by his grandson's impact on the world of art. He said: "I wonder what the old man would have made of it all!" Rolf's daughter Bindi studied at Amersham School of Art before taking a fine art degree at Bristol Polytechnic and creates work which is inspired by the natural world. Bindi may be in the shadow of her famous father but she is an artist in her own right having exhibited in London's Mall Gallery as part of the Royal Society of British Artists annual show.
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