Like A Boss

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Joe-McNicholas 12973209_10153509627027060_1997079423473211672_o-1

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From top: Artist Joe McNicholas and his painting An Irish Political Allegory with saucy Haughey detail.

A painting by artist Joe McNicholas has been removed by the Cork School of Music.

Joe Duffy is currently speaking to Joe, and others, on RTÉ One’s Liveline about the matter.

The Evening Echo reports:

McNicholas says he was “absolutely shocked” when he received an email from the director of CSM, Dr Geoffrey Spratt, who said that having received “a very significant number of complaints about two of the paintings,” he decided to remove one of them.

The painting in question, ‘An Irish Political Allegory’, measuring eight feet by five feet, includes a small image of a bare-chested Haughey and a topless woman.

Joe said: “The woman is my symbol of Ireland, like Kathleen Ní Houlihan. I felt it was appropriate that Haughey should be represented. He was having his way with Ireland.”

The paintings went on view on Tuesday and according to Dr Spratt, some parents and members of staff objected to the image in question “as unsuitable for those under the age of eighteen.”

Haughey painting banned (Collete Sheridan, Evening Echo)

Pics: 96fm and Evening Echo

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31 thoughts on “Like A Boss

  1. Kieran NYC

    If I put up a painting in my house, then decide I don’t like it and take it down, is an artist going to have a whinge on Joe Duffy about me too?

  2. Gers

    Horrible painting and that levrette just gives us an insight into the perv mind of the artist, nothing more.

    1. Anne

      There’s a long history of nudity in art.

      I like Ruben’s stuff myself…
      And Georgia O’Keefe’s flowers.

      Don’t go near the NY Metropolitan museum if you’re so easily offended.

      1. St. John Smythe

        there is a difference between nudity and sex.
        I personally have nothing wrong with someone painting sex (if its painted well), just pointing out there is a difference, so your comparison is not valid.

        1. sǝɯǝɯʇɐpɐq

          ‘painting sex’
          What’s that about?

          -The first thing that came into my mind was a Satin Finish, but my girlfriend reckons it would be better if we used oils.
          I’m not entirely sure she’s keen on it, but she’d be a model for it if she was.
          I can draw out a pretty big penis on request, so I might just give it a lash.
          My bedroom needs decorating anyway.

  3. Spaghetti Hoop

    Yet the galleries of the world are full of 18th and 19th Century hows-yer-father.

  4. CB

    What struck me about this, and the artist’s explanation:
    “The woman is my symbol of Ireland, like Kathleen Ní Houlihan. I felt it was appropriate that Haughey should be represented. He was having his way with Ireland” … was the implication that sex, or at least in that position, is inherently demeaning to a woman.
    I’m sure it’s not intended that way, but the message in the painting relies on us all assuming that there is something degrading about it for the woman.

    1. CassieDeLaForge

      really? the position is one of submission … we dont say “he” for boats cars or countries- they are reffered to as “she”..
      yeah this might be rooted in a some socially historical notion that men control/dominate women but thats not the message here … i dont think its of disrespect to women ..

    2. Spaghetti Hoop

      That’s an interesting interpretation.
      Along with my justification of sex portrayed in art, wouldn’t it be more appropriate and correct to depict the woman as the journalist that CJ was busy shafting while the country was under his remit?

    3. Cabbage Bazooka Firing Squad

      Blatantly obvious interpretation of a picture that reveals above all the artist’s unexamined and banal attitude to sex. this is the kind of edgy Irish guy who probably talks about getting raped on a weed deal.

  5. CassieDeLaForge

    lol Ireland never fails to surprise me at just hoe backwards people can be ..

  6. H

    Surely the simplest solution would be change the offending part of the painting or would that be too offensive to the artist’s sensibilities?

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