Monkey business over religious art award
A PAINTING portraying Jesus, Mary and Joseph as orang-utans is a finalist in the Blake Prize for religious art.
A PAINTING that portrays Jesus, Mary and Joseph as orang-utans is one of the finalists in this year's Blake Prize for religious art.
The work, G9, by Victorian wildlife artist and environmentalist Dawn Stubbs, features a trio of orang-utans with haloes, sitting under a quote from Genesis. In the quote, Noah and his sons are urged to "increase in number" and have "all the beasts of the Earth" live in fear.
Stubbs said yesterday her work, painted in oils and 16-carat gold, does not set out to attack religion but to convey her strong feelings about selfish human behaviour towards endangered animals.
"I'm really passionate about wildlife - I've been a wildlife artist for 40 years," she said.
Stubbs, 58, admitted Christians might be offended by her portraying the Holy Family as apes, but she insisted her aim was to draw attention to the plight of orang-utans, an endangered species.
"I don't really apologise for any of it," she said. "If somebody hits me over the head, so be it. I'm a passionate environmentalist."
The Blake Prize, the nation's best-known and most controversial award for religious art, marks its 60th anniversary this year. It attracted more than 1100 entries, since whittled down to 72 finalists.
Another contentious finalist is Three figures at the base of the crucifixions by Queensland artist Luke Roberts. This tryptych features a Christ figure on a cross, portrayed by drag queen Vanessa Wagner. A lesbian academic in a G-string and thigh-high leather boots kneels at Christ's feet.
On another cross hangs indigenous artist Richard Bell, and on a third cross is an intersex woman in a G-string and nipple tassels.
Roberts told the Seven Network yesterday he had set out to say gays and racial minorities had as much right to be seen as Christ-like as anyone else.
In 2007, the Blake Prize angered then prime minister John Howard because its finalists included a burka-clad depiction of the Virgin Mary.
Blake Society chairman Rod Pattenden said this year's finalists had produced "works that will make people think".
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