The brothers grim in the city of spires.

see images page one, page two, page three.

Drawings of mutant Ronald McDonalds, a bronze sculpture of a painting showing a sad-faced Hitler in clown make-up and a major installation featuring a knackered old caravan and fake dog turds. It can only mean one thing – a new exhibition by Jake and Dinos Chapman.

Using black humour to force us to confront the nastier things in life and question what we really value about art and culture are what the Chapmans do best, and this show is no exception. Guaranteed to cause most upset is a complete set of Goya’s Disasters Of War etchings, printed in 1937 from original plates. Onto the characters in Goya’s famous scenes of torture, mutilation and grief, the brothers have drawn their own distraught-looking clown and animal faces.

Whether they’ve defaced or created an original is just one of the issues the work throws up. Its subsequent value is another. Bought as an original set of prints by the Chapmans for £25,000, the same prints, with their additions, have been sold for £150,000. Helen Sumpter 17 April 03

The Rape of Creativity is at Modern Art Oxford, 30 Pembroke Street, Oxford, until 08 June 03.

useful link: www.modernartoxford.org.uk