FRIDAY, 18 MAY 2012
Zuma painting lets it all hang out
I am utterly disgusted, no, revolted, that the painting depicting our President, Jacob Zuma, with his tackle hanging out, was called "The Spear". Nothing about it resembles a spear, in fact, I would be so bold as to suggest that it more closely resembles a knobkerrie, and an upside down one at that too.
I have listened to talk radio today, and all anyone wants to talk about is this painting. White men seem to think he is depicted as generously endowed, black men might think that the depiction is short an inch or too. Who cares? I don't see why people get so excited about a penis, it's not as if most of us haven't seen one before. Vaginas are ok, you could have a warehouse full of vaginas and no one would say anything. But show a penis, unless your'e Michelangelo, and everyone goes crazy.
I'm more surprised that no-one has complained that it isn't erect. It could be that people realise that with all the action that Zuma has been getting, that one wouldn't expect it to be at full tilt. Maybe people sense that the drooping of the presidential knobkerrie is just that-that it represents an impotent president. I'm not a cheese and wine art critic so I'll leave the "reading" of the painting to those "sniff at the ceiling" sorts who seem to know better.
What I do know is that Zuma has brought all this upon himself. If he was doing his job, if he did have respect for what our constitution stands for, and if he had a little backbone, hell, even if he had a personality, I'm sure that people would be more circumspect with their criticism. I don't believe that anyone would present someone like Mandela in this manner, for the simple reason that there IS no reason to. He has done nothing to invite ridicule, unlike our current leader. I think Brett Murray has been rather tame with his painting. I would probably have included a sensor in it, so that, upon approach, the presidential peccadillo would rise at one's presence. Or I would have made into a clock, not that it would have worked of course, knowing the ANC's record of timekeeping. For all we know, it may not be a penis at all, but one his kids hanging from his trouser fronts. (It's something about the head.)
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