Iman Rappetti / Enews via AP
Two pictures show an unidentified man defacing a controversial portrait of South African President Jacob Zuma at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg, South Africa, on Tuesday.
Two men who vandalized a controversial painting of South African President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed were due to appear in court Wednesday.
Television footage Tuesday showed a white middle-aged man in a suit walking up to the portrait, called The Spear, at a Johannesburg gallery and painting a red cross on the president's face and private parts, Reuters reported. A younger black man then smeared black paint over the picture while the first man was being taken into custody by security guards.
"I'm doing this because the painting is disrespectful to President Zuma," one of the men told BBC News.
A BBC correspondent said he saw one of the vandals being head-butted as he was detained at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg.
The picture of Zuma is a facsimile of a famous poster of communist revolutionary Vladimir Lenin. In the red, black and yellow painting, the president is shown striking Lenin's heroic stance, but with his penis hanging out of his trousers.
Racist?
Zuma's African National Congress party had already launched a legal bid to try to force the gallery to remove the picture, which it described as crude and racist.
Minutes before the vandals attacked, ANC Secretary General Gwede Mantashe told Reuters people had a right to criticize the government, but there were limits.
Farm worker found guilty over South African white supremacist's murder
When you had an artist depicting the president's genitals, he added, "you are not raising a discussion, you are insulting people."
Jerome Delay / AP
Amid the controversy, supporters of South African President Jacob Zuma gather outside the South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg on Tuesday.
The artist, Brett Murray, is well-known in South Africa for his work criticizing the white-minority apartheid government that ended in 1994.
The painting was taken down from display after the attack, prompting the Zimbabwe Mail newspaper to file a report headlined “Presidency penis goes into hiding.”
'Paucity of morals'
The Goodman Gallery said Murray’s exhibition, called Hail to the Thief II, “continues his acerbic attacks on abuses of power, corruption and political dumbness.”
“Murray’s bronzes, etchings, paintings and silk-screens form part of a vitriolic and succinct censure of bad governance and are his attempts to humorously expose the paucity of morals and greed within the ruling elite,” the gallery said on its website, which was still showing an unvandalized image of the painting.
Zuma has been married six times and fathered 21 children.
Anton Harber, chairman of South Africa's Freedom of Expression Institute last week called the ANC's criticism of the picture "silly" and defended artists' right to pose difficult, uncomfortable questions with their work.
Zuma sworn in as South Africa’s president
The arrested men, Barend la Grange, and Lowie Mabokela were due to appear in court Wednesday, The City Press newspaper reported, along with a third man arrested outside the gallery after allegedly spraying paint on a wall.
Reuters contributed to this report.
More world news from msnbc.com and NBC News:
- 'Nearly empty': A rare glimpse inside Syria rebel stronghold
- Terror suspect's eye color? UK's flying cameras know
- Analysis: How Egypt's election can transform the Middle East
- Portraits of a queen: When the monarch becomes the subject
- Tokyo Sky Tree takes root as world's second-tallest structure
- Robotic 'fish' takes to seas to catch pollution sooner
Follow us on Twitter: @msnbc_world
Source: worldnews.msnbc.msn.com
Film board CEO accused of bias over painting - Independent Online
The Film and Publication Board's CEO Yoliswa Makhasi recused herself from a hearing on the classification of a controversial painting of President Jacob Zuma after City Press editor Ferial Haffajee complained she was biased.
Haffajee said on 567CapeTalk on Wednesday morning that Makhasi's tweets during the hearing on Tuesday night indicated the hearing was purely for show.
“We looked at the tweets of the CEO and it was very clear that a decision had already been made... the issue had been pre-judged,” she said.
“It's supposed to be an independent institution.”
The purpose of the hearing had been to decide whether to classify Brett Murray's painting of Zuma with his genitals hanging out. “The Spear” was part of an exhibition at the Goodman Gallery in Johannesburg. City Press published a picture of the painting soon after.
The FPB argued that the image was harmful to children and similar to child pornography in that it had been posted to numerous sites.
Both parties were invited to make submissions at the hearing.
Haffajee said they were only given three hours to prepare arguments, a process which usually took a month.
During the hearing, Makhasi posted on Twitter: “Classification decision. It's interesting how media is sensitive to being gagged and yet so quick to want to gag others.”
The City Press objected to her presence on the board and she agreed to recuse herself. She was replaced by chief operations officer Mmapula Fisha. Makhasi had since deleted her Twitter account.
After the hearing, Haffajee posted: “#fpb experience tonight is an argument against cadre deployment. Some organisations require scrupulous independence. Scrupulous.”
On Wednesday morning, however, she said she did not believe there had been political interference in the hearing. She said the board had very young members.
She said the African National Congress could be blamed for its response to the painting.
It launched an urgent court application on Friday to try and prevent the gallery from exhibiting the painting and City Press from showing the image on its website. The ANC would argue in court on Thursday that it should be removed because it violates Zuma's right to dignity and makes a mockery of his office.
“The ANC has done itself a massive disservice because it's gone absolutely viral. It's on millions of Facebook pages now. How do you pull that?” Haffajee said.
Two men would appear in court on Wednesday after allegedly defacing the portrait with red and black paint on Tuesday morning. The gallery has temporarily closed its doors to the public.
The FPB hearing would resume on Wednesday at 2pm. - Sapa
Source: www.iol.co.za
Trial of alleged vandals of Zuma painting postponed - Business Day South Africa
THE trial of two men accused of vandalising a painting depicting President Jacob Zuma with his genitals exposed was postponed in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court on Wednesday.
The matter was postponed to June 28 for further investigation.
Barend la Grange and Lowie Mabokela are accused of defacing the Brett Murray painting at the Goodman Gallery on Tuesday.
Bail of R1000 was extended for both men. They face charges of malicious damage to property.
The gallery where the controversial painting of Mr Zuma is housed was temporarily closed to the public on Tuesday. It was still closed on Wednesday morning.
Gallery owner Liza Essers said the move was prompted by numerous threats and the defacing incident. The painting was defaced by two people visiting the gallery.
The South Gauteng High Court in Johannesburg will hear an African National Congress application on Thursday to have the painting taken down.
A third person, George Moyo, was arrested for spray-painting on a wall outside the Goodman Gallery. He appeared in the Hillbrow Magistrate’s Court earlier on Wednesday.
Ms Essers said the painting, The Spear, had generated a debate that clearly engaged important legal and constitutional issues.
"I furthermore never imagined that this debate would transform into harmful physical action," she said. "This is over and above questions of political power, which formed part of its original dialogue."
The gallery recognised how divided the country had become over the controversy the painting had sparked.
"We must take cognisance of all responses to our exhibitions, and do not value one opinion above another," Ms Essers said.
The painting was defaced with red and black paint, obscuring the face and waist of the figure.
SAPA
Source: www.businessday.co.za
Dickson Furniture Leverages VAI to Enhance Customer Relationships by Streamlining ERP Processes - StreetInsider.com
Leading Furniture Manufacturer Selects VAI S2K to Manage Manufacturing and Distribution Needs from one Integrated System
RONKONKOMA, N.Y.--(BUSINESS WIRE)-- VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.), a leading ERP software provider announced that Dickson Furniture International and Dickson Furniture Manufacturers are leveraging VAI’s S2K Enterprise Resource Planning Software to streamline business processes, with the goal of significantly improving customer relationships. Parent company Dickson Industries, LLC, selected VAI to undergo a three-phased implementation to help their operating companies manage their complex manufacturing and distribution needs such as inventory planning, purchasing and logistics from one integrated system.
In the first phase, Dickson Furniture International went live May 2012 with the S2K distribution modules. Dickson Furniture International imports furniture from many different locations around the world, including China, Vietnam, Malaysia, Indonesia and Mexico. Due to its significant distribution business and complicated purchasing and inventory planning needs, the company required a fully integrated ERP solution to manage these processes across their entire supply chain. Furthermore, it wanted to manipulate inventory data and forecasting as efficiently as possible.
“For over 35 years, our customers have relied on Dickson to produce and deliver high-quality furniture, with better lead times and cost of our competitors,” said Doug Mueller, president and CEO, Dickson Industries, LLC. “VAI’s reputation as a strong mid-market player coupled with its robust, integrated ERP solution made them the best choice to restructure and optimize our manufacturing and distribution processes. Now we can continue to deliver on our promise and maintain the exceptional customer relationships we’ve worked so hard to build. We will now work on getting Dickson Furniture Manufacturers live by September as well as the Web interface for our customers by the end of the year.”
“Dickson is a testament to the power and effectiveness of our integrated ERP solution,” said VAI CEO Bob Vormittag. “Our flexible and user-friendly solutions are a perfect fit for mid-market customers like Dickson, as they are able to build a solution that addresses their most specific and pressing issues.”
About VAI (Vormittag Associates, Inc.)
VAI is a leading independent mid-market ERP software developer renowned for its customized solutions and ability to automate critical business functions for the distribution, manufacturing, specialty retail and service sectors. An IBM Premier Business Partner, VAI is the 2012 IBM Beacon Award Winner for Outstanding Solutions for Midsize Businesses. VAI continues to innovate with new solutions that leverage analytics, business intelligence, mobility and cloud technology to help customers make more informed business decisions in real-time and empower their mobile workforces. VAI is headquartered in Ronkonkoma, NY with branch offices in Florida, Illinois and California. For more information, please contact Diane Dady at 800-824-7776, visit www.vai.net or follow @VAISoftware on Twitter.
About Dickson Furniture
Dickson Furniture Manufacturers is a US manufacturer of high quality student housing, hospitality and contract furniture. Dickson Furniture Manufacturer’s sister company, Dickson Furniture International, builds great styles of bedroom, dining and upholstery at a great value primarily for the retail trade. Recently, Dickson Industries purchased Dickson Furniture Manufacturers and Dickson Furniture International to become the dominate player in its market segments. Dickson Industries are head quartered in Houston, TX. For more information please visit dicksonfurniture.com.
Photos/Multimedia Gallery Available: http://www.businesswire.com/cgi-bin/mmg.cgi?eid=50287926&lang=en
fama PREleanor Crow, 617-986-5018vai@famapr.com
Source: VAI
Source: www.streetinsider.com
Oil painting decorative home add household color happier - OnTheSnow.com
People to the requirements of the grade of the life that occupy the home is more and more high, in addition to decorate a style, furniture beyond, painting works actually can bear living room "the pen that nods eyeball". art oil painting is the adornment picture aristocratic a, according to the needs of the customer copy or creation, the style is unique. Now introduce the different areas of activity of the selection and arrangement oil painting.
The sitting room serves as household main activity place, is each family of the most remarkable place, and to have contact inside and outside, communication cuisine of the mission. In the sitting room hanging oil painting on canvas, its theme, tonal, style and even match boxes with the furniture should be in the unified and decoration.
If is classical especially the style that restore ancient ways, the European palace or religious subjects for the best choice. The heavy and complicated composition, luxuriant scene and a long culture, veiled divergent a luxurious atmosphere magnates, while at the same time never fails to highlight master status and connotation of culture, can greatly improve the whole decorates the effect. If is neutral partial conservative style, the classic or realistic buildings, landscape is the best choice. Choose when, in addition to the mass-tone attune, space level, painting work precision "hardware" outside factors, painting the building or the landscape of their own features also not allow to ignore, because the connotation and the soul is works by it gives. If is contemporary and contracted style, is a half original classic partial impression style of the works is the best choice.
The bedroom is wonderful dreams, indulging in the whimsical fantasy, is a catalyst for the coupling of real life and fantasy. Because the bedroom is master illicit close territory, so in oil painting on topics need not formality, the only purpose is to build comfortable and easy and comfortable, romantic atmosphere. If you don't have a specific idea, I recommend the human body and warm color attune scenery subject, classical or classical partial impression kind of style. Hang a picture to best place of the bedroom is the head of a bed, be sure to use double nail suspension to ensure safety. The bedroom with oil paintings for sale cultured is overall coordination with local set off and, through the visual contrast to highlight adornment effect.
In a restaurant with a relaxed in lively, quietly elegant is downy canvas, will bring you dine cheerful mood. Whether and simple sense hale real wood table or modern connect the glass table is tie-in, can build a relaxed and pleasant, appetite big leave atmosphere.
Classical still life such as fruit platter, flowers vessels is more orthodox choice; Also can choose according to the individual, such as red wine, Big blue mountains and green waters, and realistic landscape also can yet be regarded as urban fast rhythm of gens individuality choice.
Choose painted with restaurant should pay attention to the following: tonal should be soft and pure and fresh, the picture to clean and neat, brush to exquisite realistic. In dining-room and sitting room with a body, best can match with the sitting room painted phase coherent coordination.
Source: www.onthesnow.com
No comments:
Post a Comment