Blake Prize is Back!
AOA BLOG
By Ernest Britton
The painting is definitely provocative, but is it sacred or blasphemous? Some how the people leading Australia's 59th annual Blake prize manage to stir things up without crossing the line. Veteran painter, sculptor and photographer Rodney Pople's painting is an example from this years selection of provocative works. An Australian newspaper describes his work as, "A headless Roman Catholic cardinal towers over the interior of one of Venice's baroque churches, surrounded by images of the Virgin Mary's innocence. But in the cardinal's lap - echoing the classic pieta pose of the crucified Messiah - is an altar boy, his genitals partly exposed as he offers his own innocence to the figure of religious authority." I love the audacity of these Australians, and the prize comes with $20,000!
By Ernest Britton
The painting is definitely provocative, but is it sacred or blasphemous? Some how the people leading Australia's 59th annual Blake prize manage to stir things up without crossing the line. Veteran painter, sculptor and photographer Rodney Pople's painting is an example from this years selection of provocative works. An Australian newspaper describes his work as, "A headless Roman Catholic cardinal towers over the interior of one of Venice's baroque churches, surrounded by images of the Virgin Mary's innocence. But in the cardinal's lap - echoing the classic pieta pose of the crucified Messiah - is an altar boy, his genitals partly exposed as he offers his own innocence to the figure of religious authority." I love the audacity of these Australians, and the prize comes with $20,000!
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