Gina Rinehart demands National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait
The mining billionaire Gina Rinehart has demanded the National Gallery of Australia remove her portrait from an exhibition by the award-winning artist Vincent Namatjira.
The image, arguably an unflattering picture of Australia’s richest woman, is one of many portraits unveiled at the Canberra gallery as part of the Archibald prize-winning artist’s first major survey exhibition.
The National Gallery has rebuffed efforts to have the picture taken down and said in a statement that it welcomed public dialogue on its collection and displays.
I can’t say that I don’t entirely see Gina’s point, cos it’s really not flattering to her… but by the same token she’s also one of the worst people in Australia, so we may ask if she deserved a flattering portrait in the first place.
Talking of portraits…
…Chuckles has unveiled his, and… it’s… red?
Jonathon Yeo was chosen to do the portrait – he’s done paintings of lots of other famous figures, including Sir David Attenborough and Malala Yousafzai.
The artist said he wanted to make a break with the past. This means he wanted to paint something slightly different to other, more traditional paintings of monarchs.
This is why he used a bright red colour throughout the painting.
The portrait seems to have drawn mixed reviews (though his kingship seems satisfied with it). I… kind of like it? I suspect my mum would’ve hated it, but I do think it’s interesting at least. However, Nigel Farage says he likes it too, so I don’t know how to feel about that…