The Democratic Alliance (DA) has decided not to give too much attention to a painting depicting some of its members in an unsavory light.
The painting by Cape Town based artist, Iven Amali, raised eyebrows due to its explicit nature.
The artwork portrays DA leader Mmusi Maimane, Western Cape premier Helen Zille and DA shadow minister of correctional services, James Selfe with their private parts exposed. Maimane is pulling a cart, carrying Selfe and Zille, with the words ‘modern slavery’ hanging in front of the cart.
This is the second controversial painting depicting political leaders this year. The first one was Ayanda Mabulu’s painting of President Jacob Zuma and Atul Gupta in a sexual position, which caused a major upset in the African National Congress (ANC).
DA media officer, Nkele Molapo, said the DA finds the painting crude and they prefer not to comment further on the matter.
Meanwhile, the Goodman Gallery have openly rejected to exhibit Amali’s painting, after being approached by the artist.
Goodman Gallery media liaison, Matthew Krouse, said the gallery does not represent Amali and Mabulu.
“The Goodman Gallery represents a stable of artists and has a curatorial program determined two years in advance. The curatorial team reviews the applications of new artists periodically, assessing a full body of work. A decision cannot be based on one particular work and visit,” explained Krouse.
He said when Amali came to the gallery on 28 July with his painting, they informed him of the process which is standard practice with galleries internationally.
Alice Art Gallery owner, Alice Pitzer said she is familiar with the controversial painting painted by Amali and added that she believes an artist has a right to show it to the world. An artists must also consider the implications of their work and how they depict people.
“I would rather display a painting that feels good to see, increase in value and where you can see the artist’s character in the painting. The paintings involving Amali and Mabulu are not pieces that we would display. We would rather focus on other positive things happening in the world,” said Pitzer.
The Alice Art Gallery is in Ruimsig.
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