I watched a Channel 4 Documentary the other evening ‘Art, ADHD & Me’ with Johnny Vegas. It was five years in the making – during filming Vegas’ mental health declined, and he was diagnosed with ADHD.

It follows him embarking on a community public art project as a tribute to his home town, St Helens. His initial idea of a walkway in the centre of a busy square, designed to give a few seconds respite and space to think, was stopped in its tracks by the number crunchers – it would cost hundreds of thousands of pounds to realise. Whilst Vegas was going to have a fundraising exhibition of his work, it wouldn’t be enough. He had to come up with a plan B – a metal structure displaying tiles which forms a love letter to St Helens, and which is to be displayed at the World of Glass. The measurements were off and few of the tiles actually fitted when it came to assembling it. On opening night, Vegas is shown outside with an angle grinder trying to cut them down to size. He didn’t finish. It’s a work in progress.

It’s a programme full of vulnerability. I felt as if I was there with him, experiencing the self doubt as to whether he should go with an idea just in case there’s a better one he hadn’t thought of yet, feeling the frustration and disbelief when things didn’t fit, and the stress of time running out followed by the final acceptance that what would be, would be. It was interesting seeing how his mind works; instead of falling asleep, he wonders how many pigeons it would take to lift him up.

However, I did find myself wondering whether he would have been given the time of day by the Council, had he not been who he is.

I was walking through Winchester last week, past one of the two Castle Fine Art galleries in the city. I looked in the window and saw a 2D Johnny Depp looking back at me. I peered in and saw the far walls adorned with his work as well as a large photo of him in the act of being artistic. The gallery also represents Billy Connolly, Bob Dylan and Boy George. It seems that everyone’s doing it – just this morning I saw a post about Noel Fielding’s new exhibition. David Bowie did it, Ronnie Wood and Keith Richards do it, along with Paul McCartney, Miley Cyrus, Pierce Brosnan, and a plethora of others.

My first thought is that it’s simply not fair – leave some space for the rest of us. Then I ask myself, why shouldn’t they be able to express themselves in the visual art world just because they’ve succeeded in another sphere? They should be able to, and some may have even started off in the arts – Vegas has a BA in Art & Ceramics – but their lives took them in a different direction. But I do wonder whether we would even see their work if they worked under a pseudonym.