Zuma & The Spear Got Geurilla Art

So our favorite controversial painting got vandalized today. You've probably seen the video footage of the professor neatly X-ing Zuma's face and his um..., and the boy then taking over with his black paint. So here's the best bits of in depth info from News24 and Globalpost.

A Third Attempt

"a third man was also arrested for attempting to spray paint the word "respect" onto a wall near the artwork."

The Angry Lady and Proffesor

"Earlier a television journalist (Iman Rappetti, eNews channel anchor) working on a story about the painting, titled The Spear, told how she tried to stop the older man from damaging the work. She said she grabbed him, while shouting to gallery staff to come and help her.'It was surreal.' 

Rappetti described the vandal as a completely "ordinary" looking critic wearing a tweed jacket. Unbeknown to Rappetti the teenager was standing behind her with a large pot of black paint.

The Boy

"BBC correspondent Andrew Harding tweeted, "Zuma picture smeared with black paint. Man who did it tells me "picture was offensive." gallery guard assaults him. 2nd man arrested too."

And?

"The suspects were arrested and taken to Rosebank police station."

"Greg Palmer, attorney for the Goodman Gallery which is hosting the exhibition by artist Brett Murray, said the gallery would lay charges of destroying private property against them."

"Cape Town artist Brett Murray earlier said his artwork was never meant to hurt anyone but an 'attempt at humorous satire of political power and patriarchy within the context of other artworks in the exhibition and within the broader context of South African discourse'."

It's ironic how the ANC approached the South Gauteng High Court "to try and stop the gallery from displaying the 1.85m-high painting titled The Spear, and City Press from carrying a photo of it on its website." And now it's a national and internet debate. I bet you people that would never have visited the Goodman gallery is at the the front line of the debate. Ah, the power of art.