Let me tell you why ‘The Spear’ was a good thing for South Africa.
There’s been a bit of a teacup tempest this week regarding matters of race, culture, art and the President’s wang – You know, artsy shit. Brett Murray’s ‘The Spear’ started out as a depiction of SA President Jacob Zuma standing around in the (mostly) buff, but it’s evolved into so much more than that by way of the commentary that’s swept every news site, radio station, and most of twitter. The responses to the painting have been political, comedic, terrifying and one in particular was distinctly, um, racist, I guess. But I swear, it’s all for the best. Talk with me.
Zapiro Goes Back To The Well, uh, Dick
Another: Uncategorized
Tags: art, Brett Murray, political commentary, politics, President Jacob Zuma, South Africa, The Goodman Gallery, The Spear, Zapiro
Check out Zapiro‘s latest dig at SA President Jacob Zuma for the Mail & Guardian published here today. In all honesty, I’m finding his attacks on Zuma repetitive and they long ago veered off the path of political commentary and into the realm of personal vendetta. The inclusion of the little poem is “cute” but also pretty lazy. And I think it’s interesting that we live in a country that simultaneously wants to moan about how ashamed we all are that the President is supposedly some kind of sex-crazed maniac, but also just won’t let go of the image of his sexuality as a means of criticizing him.
Meh. That’s it.