Nude, Pin-Up-Style Portrait Of Emiliano Zapata Sparks Protests In Mexico City

[Judi Lynn]

Nude, Pin-Up-Style Portrait Of Emiliano Zapata Sparks Protests In Mexico City
December 11, 20197:01 PM ET

VANESSA ROMO



Mexican artist Fabián Cháirez stands next to his painting of Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata, straddling a horse nude, wearing high heels and a pink hat, at the Fine Arts Palace in Mexico City on Dec. 11, 2019.
Marco Ugarte/AP


Picture a nude George Washington riding a white horse, wearing high heels and nothing but a coquettish pout on his lips. Now imagine a portrait of the scene hanging at the National Portrait Gallery in the nation's capital.

That's not much different from what is happening in Mexico's most prestigious museum, Palacio de Bellas Artes, which is displaying a controversial portrait of Emiliano Zapata, one of the country's most beloved revolutionary heroes.

The small painting by 32-year-old artist Fabián Cháirez, called "La Revolución," has provoked outrage and protests by a handful of Zapata's descendants and a farmers union. They are demanding its immediate removal from the show, marking 100 years since the fighter's death.



A group of people, who are part of a farm union, block the entrance of the Fine Arts Palace as they fight with LGBTQ supporters about a painting showing Mexican revolutionary hero Emiliano Zapata nude while wearing high heels and riding a horse, in Mexico City, Mexico.
Carlos Jasso/Reuters

The protesters, who shouted homophobic slurs outside the museum, rushed into the lavish Art Nouveau lobby, pledging to block the entrance until the painting was taken down.

More:
https://www.npr.org/2019/12/11/787244533/nude-pin-up-style-portrait-of-emiliano-zapata-sparks-protests-in-mexico-city

[brush]

1. Perhaps not a wise choice to get attention by the artist.

[Judi Lynn]

2. I think you're right, brush. Yikes. n/t

[brush]

3. Serrano did the "Piss Christ" photo back in the late '80s and Ofili did the elephant...

dung "Virgin Mary" painting(ugggleee) in the '90s—some artists are so desperate for attention they go for outrage instead of having the confidence that the quality of their work will gain them the recognition they seek.

Unfortunately, sometimes it works.

[Judi Lynn]

4. Wow. I remember the first, but not the second. I think I'll take your word for the elephant momento.

Yeah, it really looks as if they could aim a bit higher, doesn't it, since they've got nothing else going on, apparently, no important meetings to attend, no appointments consulting in Washington, no cancer or rocket science to tie them up...

I guess it means they realize if they try to do honest work, they've got little talent and meager powers of concentration!

Hope artists of this genre never have a large art show.