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.

Other pictures depict Lindsey Lohan, David Beckham and Josef Fritzl.

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.

“I tried to be as neutral as possible in choosing the people in the paintings. For some reason we’re fascinated by people who do the most despicable things.

“That’s the reason the media panders to that side of our culture and they become famous in their own way. With the celebrities, if people are photographed and filmed enough times now the rest of us seem to think they’re something special.”

Squire, originally from Timperley, designed many of the album sleeves for the Stone Roses as they became one of Manchester’s most famous bands.

After leaving in 1996 he formed The Seahorses before starting his full-time art career in 2004. He added: “I understand the power an image has – that’s where celebrity comes from and I’m aware I’ve been through that process myself.

“I hope people will like the compositions – that’s the most important thing for me.”

Shipman, thought to have killed up to 215 patients before hanging himself in jail, is represented by white stars on a brown background. Film maker Woody Allen’s portrait uses a pattern of blue and white shapes and Josef Fritzel’s is green and brown.

Tani Burns from the Idea Generation Gallery which is hosting the exhibition in London, said: “The idea behind it is how modern culture takes these pictures of people and saturates us with them – they are everywhere.

“Everyone knows who Harold Shipman or Josef Fritzl is and including them in this exhibition isn’t intended to be controversial, but show how their names have become associated with a single photo of them. We hope it will make people question what they are looking at and whether they need to see pictures of celebrities and well-known people in the news all the time.”

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