Shame Mother's Day has been and gone, because this would have been one heck of a gift. After all, who doesn't want a nude of their very own PM to—ahem—grace the mantel?
Sadly, you're too late. The Edward Day Gallery has confirmed that Margaret Sutherland's masterpiece of a Stephen Harper nude has just sold for a whopping $5,000. Its Quebec proprietor, not surprisingly, wishes to remain anonymous.
According to HuffPost, Sutherland's inspiration came via the Hans Christian Andersen's fable, Emperor's New Clothes, from which the 2011 painting, "Emperor Haute Couture," derived its name.
The Kingston-based artist points to a feminist subtext "of the single woman amid the faceless suits" in the Tory minority government. "There were very few women in the cabinet and they weren't having an easy time of it," said Sutherland. "Between Helena Guergis and Bev Oda it wasn't going well."
Then there's the Tim Horton's coffee cup being served to the Canuck ruler on a china saucer. And what, pray tell, does the Emperor think of this depiction of power as the infinite corruptor?
His director of communications, Andrew MacDougall, at least, saw the funny side. “We're not impressed," he tweeted. "Everyone knows the PM is a cat person.”
As for the show of flesh, Sutherland openly laughed. "I had to use my imagination. I could have easily changed him from David to Jabba the Hut with a stroke of the brush."
If the painting wasn't enough to put you off, Stephen Lautens's tweet, "So that's where the TimBits went..." will ruin Timmy's for you forever.
Is Sutherland a maverick in the art world? Are political nudes a brave new movement? God, we pray not. How do you feel about seeing your leader in a new light? Squeamish? Giddy? Flushed?
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