A very unoriginal take on Gina Rinehart

'The Banquet of Gina and Ginia', Warren Lane, 2013

A painting of the world's richest woman, Gina Rinehart has won the Bald Archy prize.  To have oneself immortalized on canvas is usually a thing of prestige and honor, but not this time. Rineharts’ face is smeared in chocolate cake, with clear themes of greed and self-indulgence.

Warren Lane – of Preston, Melbourne – intentionally based his painting of the mining magnate to strike resemblance to a painting by Dutch artist Jan Victors. The scene depicted in the original piece, named ‘The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus’  is of a large man who is the Persian emperor (Ahasuerus) being advised by his wife (Esther) of a plot of betrayal by his right hand man.

'The Banquet of Esther and Ahasuerus', Jan Victors, 1640

Mr. Lane means no offence by the portrait. "I am joking. I think she'll see it that way. Hopefully," he said. The Bald Archy is an annual prize that in its 20^th year this year, and is a send up of the Archibald Prize. In the past, winners of the Bald Archy have always made fun of Australian celebrities, well-known figures and politicians.  Gina Rinehart was the subject of eight of the admissions for this year’s prize. The winner is normally selected by a cockatoo named Maude, and was designed specifically to change the publics’ conceptions about art in todays society. 

Yes, Gina Rinehart is fabulously wealthy. And no, she is not the picture of health. But aren’t these fat jokes getting a bit old? Aren’t they a little obvious, a little over-used, unoriginal and offensive? As a well-known figure, Rinehart would have to be used to criticism, but no woman likes to be ridiculed about her weight. Its an easy joke and I must say I am a little disappointed that such low-brow humor has dominated what is supposed to be a send up of something so proper.  Hopefully next year the winning entrant will have a little more to offer than the requirement of a single brain cell to understand the joke. Sure, make fun of serious art. Its all in good fun. But please, for the love of intelligence, do it in a way that requires a more complex thought than ‘lol’. 

References:
http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-04-05/rinehart-portrait-wins-bald-archy/4611724
http://www.heraldsun.com.au/entertainment/warren-lane-portrait-of-gina-rinehart-takes-the-cake-at-bald-archy-prize-in-sydney/story-e6frf96o-1226613319098
http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Jan_Victors_-_The_Banquet_of_Esther_and_Ahasuerus_-_WGA25059.jpg
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bald_Archy_Prize