What a nude painting of Park and an awkwardly placed THAAD missile says about Korean politics
Controversial political art is nothing new for South Korea, but what some call a sexist depiction of the scandal-hit president has struck a nerve at just the right (or wrong) time
A painting of South Korean President Park Geun-hye in the nude has triggered a national debate about the limits of artistic expression in a democracy and the use of sexism to debase political opponents.
The latest in a long, proud and even strident line of controversial expressions is Lee Koo-young’s Dirty Sleep, depicting Park as Venus from Giorgione’s Sleeping Venus, with a Terminal High Altitude Area Defence (THAAD) missile between her thighs.
Put on display at the National Assembly Hall in Seoul in January as part of an exhibition organised by opposition lawmaker Pyo Chang-won, it has since been ripped off a wall and stomped on by Park supporters – prompting the National Assembly Secretariat to bring a halt to the exhibition. “Anyone who dislikes the painting has the right to express his or her opinion,” Pyo said. “However, using violence and destroying it is violating the law and constitutes a crime. Since such a criminal act was caused by hatred and targeted a piece of art, with the support and cheering of a crowd, it can be regarded as cultural vandalism.”
The painting puts a nude Park in repose in a setting reminiscent of Manet’s Olympia, with Park as the prostitute and her confidante, Choi Soon-sil (who has been charged by prosecutors for intervening in state affairs), as the servant bearing a basket of needles. Behind them, outside a window, a ferry sinks. The ferry references the MV Sewol ferry disaster of 2014 in which about 300 people died, mostly secondary school children; the needles reference claims that Park received hundreds of Botox injections, including some on the day of the ferry tragedy; the missile references the Park government’s decision to install the US anti-ballistic missile system on its territory, much to the displeasure of China, which has made clear the issue could destroy relations between Seoul and Beijing.
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The controversy is the latest involving the embattled president, who was impeached over the scandal surrounding her confidante Choi.
