Upon seeing these photographs, my first thought was that Pete Doherty was hitting the Vegas circuit as an understudy for the Blue Man Group. After that hypothesis quickly crumbled, I figured Doherty wanted to will himself out of Circle 8, Bolgia 10 of Dante’s Inferno , but this would indicate far too quick of a response for our antihero. Nope, the rationale here is the obvious one: Pete Doherty has commissioned his very own self-crucifixion sculpture:

The “disturbing artwork” will be carved in marble and show Doherty being tortured, surrounded by strips of newspapers — symbolising his crucifixion by the media.

Anyway, Potty Pete’s artist pal NICK REYNOLDS — the son of Great Train Robber Bruce Reynolds — has spent hours holed up with Pete and his er, crack team, preparing a cast.

The cast will be used as a reference point for Reynolds to make an accurate sculpture.

And the “masterpiece” will appear on stage with Pete at his Royal Albert Hall gig on July 12 — if it is finished in time. And it will be the centre piece of a book by Reynolds called Heroes And Villains.

Reynolds maintains that Pete is being “crucified by the press,” and, as we know, the shortest route to creativity is to become impossibly literal with a concept. Ace plan, mates!

No worries, Petey, old chap. We always had a hunch that you were the second coming.

Imagery: The Sun