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Saturday, Feb 22, 2025
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Painting of mao and urinal draws moans
An oil painting that shows former paramount leader Mao Zedong looking at a urinal is the latest artwork at M+ Museum to attract criticism.
The painting by Beijing-based artist Shi Xinning depicts Mao looking at a urinal sculpture titled Fountain by French artist Marcel Duchamp.
The painting, Duchamp Retrospective Exhibition in China, is one of the 1,510 art pieces under the museum's M+ Sigg collection, which faced criticism from state-owned Ta Kung Wen Wei media for "uglifying and defaming the country's leader."
Both Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po published articles yesterday criticizing the M+ museum for using HK$1.2 billion of public funding to "randomly buy fake artworks."
The articles stated that former Swiss ambassador to China Uli Sigg, under a part-gift, part-purchase arrangement, sold part of his collection - 47 pieces - for HK$177 million to the museum.
"However, many pieces of the collection involve slander and humiliation against the Chinese government," one of the writers said. It pinpointed Shi's painting and one of Ai Weiwei's art pieces that gives the finger in front of Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Another article from Ta Kung Pao accused M+ Museum's collection of not meeting its acquisition policy's ethics and standards, saying that some of its pieces contain "undesirable social values."
The article said the museum-owned Sigg collection contains pieces that "challenge China's dignity and violates its moral bottom line," adding that it contains nudes, group sex photos, or even "disturbing artworks with pedophilic consciousness."
A local artist and secondary school visual art teacher, who goes by the name VAWongSir, finds it ridiculous that the state media criticized the M+ collection for containing photos with nudity.
"For a long time, art pieces have had varying degrees of nudity, such as Michelangelo's statue of David," he said.
Wong said the audience should not view art pieces that contain nudity in a sexualized perspective.
In a cartoon posted on his Facebook and Instagram pages, Wong expressed concern that there will be less freedom in the art scene after M+ Museums' collection and the Inside the Red Brick Wall documentary faced a backlash.
The painting, Duchamp Retrospective Exhibition in China, is one of the 1,510 art pieces under the museum's M+ Sigg collection, which faced criticism from state-owned Ta Kung Wen Wei media for "uglifying and defaming the country's leader."
Both Ta Kung Pao and Wen Wei Po published articles yesterday criticizing the M+ museum for using HK$1.2 billion of public funding to "randomly buy fake artworks."
The articles stated that former Swiss ambassador to China Uli Sigg, under a part-gift, part-purchase arrangement, sold part of his collection - 47 pieces - for HK$177 million to the museum.
"However, many pieces of the collection involve slander and humiliation against the Chinese government," one of the writers said. It pinpointed Shi's painting and one of Ai Weiwei's art pieces that gives the finger in front of Beijing's Tiananmen Square.
Another article from Ta Kung Pao accused M+ Museum's collection of not meeting its acquisition policy's ethics and standards, saying that some of its pieces contain "undesirable social values."
The article said the museum-owned Sigg collection contains pieces that "challenge China's dignity and violates its moral bottom line," adding that it contains nudes, group sex photos, or even "disturbing artworks with pedophilic consciousness."
A local artist and secondary school visual art teacher, who goes by the name VAWongSir, finds it ridiculous that the state media criticized the M+ collection for containing photos with nudity.
"For a long time, art pieces have had varying degrees of nudity, such as Michelangelo's statue of David," he said.
Wong said the audience should not view art pieces that contain nudity in a sexualized perspective.
In a cartoon posted on his Facebook and Instagram pages, Wong expressed concern that there will be less freedom in the art scene after M+ Museums' collection and the Inside the Red Brick Wall documentary faced a backlash.
