Mayor Hazel McCallion is one of Canada's outspoken, daring and most successful leaders of a city.
She dared to voice her mayoral point of view on free-loading refugees and immigrants taking over her hospitals and institutions, at Canadians’ tax payers expense.
Now it seems the arts community is also feeling her bite. As usual, it is the mediocre ones who complain.
Brian Osmond, a photography store owner, was asked to pull down an uncomplimentary painting of the mayor. His reason for putting up this dismal portrait: The mayor doesn’t support the ‘arts’.
He finally took down the painting due to negative publicity for his business. So his higher ideals are all about money.
But once again, here on Camera Lucida, it is always interesting to look at the work of art, and see how it fits with the behavior of the beholder.
Let’s analyse this situation:
1. Osmond actually took a photograph of the mayor, which “he enlarged and finished with chalk and water colors.”
True to 'artists' of Osmond’s ilk, they have no drawing skills, are adept at tracing and copying, and keep their photoshop always at hand.
2. It’s full of simplistic and childish codes.
- Purple hair to show how ‘dated’ McCallion is
- Red to show her ‘strength’, I think he means her power, which not a good thing
- The footsteps around her, courtesy of his young son’s prints, to show that art should be run by someone younger
Borrowed footprints, borrowed portraits, and a little bit of slapdash paint does not art make.
Like the piggy-backing immigrants, McCallion has realized that artists belong into that category as well. And Osmond has a hard time accepting it.