TORONTO – It’s the prime minister as you’ve never seen him before.
A painting by Kingston, Ont.,-based artist Margaret Sutherland depicting Stephen Harper in the nude is creating a stir.
“Emperor Haute Couture” shows the prime minister reclining on a chaise lounge wearing nothing but a subtle smile.
He is surrounded by people in suits, whose faces can’t be seen. A dog (Sutherland’s own dog) rests at his feet as a woman in business attire offers him a Tim Hortons cup on a silver platter.
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“I tried not to make it personal,” says Sutherland. “I didn’t call it Stephen Harper on a Couch. I called it the Emperor Haute Couture, a reference to the Hans Christian Andersen tale of the Emperor’s New Clothes.”
The painting currently graces a wall at the Kingston public library as part of an art competition that runs until the end of the month.
Sutherland says that the painting is social and political satire.
“My point was-again referencing the Hans Christian Andersen-is that political figures can tell us one thing, but we can see with our own eyes the other.”
Chief Librarian Patricia Enright says some people think the piece is disrespectful while others like that it is on display.
Sutherland says the only comment from the Prime Minister’s Office came via a tweet in reference to the fact that the original Manet painting Sutherland used as inspiration has a black cat lying on the bed instead of a dog.
“There was a Twitter comment from someone affiliated with the PMO’s office this morning saying that they were not impressed, as everyone knows the prime minister is a cat person,” she says. “I’m glad it’s being taken with a sense of humour from Ottawa.”
When faced with criticism it may not be appropriate in a public space that children visit, Sutherland says children see and hear much worse on television, the Internet and the street. She doesn’t feel she needs to hide this sort of art from kids.
“There was a 10-year-old here with his mother, and she asked what he thought of the painting. And he looked at it, and he looked at her, and he said, ‘I didn’t know he had a dog.”
With files from Global News
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