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Stephen Harper Portrait Contest

While the rest of the world is dizzy with Hope and Change (and believe me, we’re happy for you us), we here in Canada are stuck with the status quo and a conservative government determined to slash and burn the arts.

It was in this spirit last week that the government led by Stephen Harper quietly canceled long-standing plans for a National Portrait Gallery.

So Art Threat, the political art blog, taken matters into their own hands:

Since Stephen Harper canceled the National Portrait Gallery, we decided to create our own in his honour. We’re inviting artists to submit their portrait of Canada’s Prime Minister for inclusion in the Stephen Harper Portrait Gallery, and their chance to win (minor) fame and riches!

The prize is (CA)$1000. Find out more here.

  • P90

    Yeah, let’s have some “hope” and “change” in Canada. Your government taxes laborers, right? It taxes carpenters and auto mechanics and people who drive trucks. It taxes waiters and hairdressers and secretaries. People without much education who work long damn hours for pay that frankly isn’t all that great. They put up with a lot of shit, too. And they pay taxes.

    So you figure those people should be taxed just a bit extra in order to support middle-class kids who produce art that nobody wants to pay for.

    What a greedy, selfish little creep you are.

    Hell, I don’t mind paying extra taxes to keep welfare mothers off the streets, and maybe give their kids a chance to do better. But you want people with real jobs to subsidize college graduates too? Sorry, pal. Society already handed you the jackpot. You’ve got a hell of a nerve demanding more.

  • P90

    Yeah, let’s have some “hope” and “change” in Canada. Your government taxes laborers, right? It taxes carpenters and auto mechanics and people who drive trucks. It taxes waiters and hairdressers and secretaries. People without much education who work long damn hours for pay that frankly isn’t all that great. They put up with a lot of shit, too. And they pay taxes.

    So you figure those people should be taxed just a bit extra in order to support middle-class kids who produce art that nobody wants to pay for.

    What a greedy, selfish little creep you are.

    Hell, I don’t mind paying extra taxes to keep welfare mothers off the streets, and maybe give their kids a chance to do better. But you want people with real jobs to subsidize college graduates too? Sorry, pal. Society already handed you the jackpot. You’ve got a hell of a nerve demanding more.

  • dougtoney

    Please tell me what “slash and burn the arts” means. If you are a “true artist” you won’t need a government to support your endeavors. Just work your butt off and have something to say. That’s what art’s all about.

  • dougtoney

    Please tell me what “slash and burn the arts” means. If you are a “true artist” you won’t need a government to support your endeavors. Just work your butt off and have something to say. That’s what art’s all about.

  • Huebner

    Hey, let the Americans have fun playing with a command economy for a change. I’m with dougtoney. If the guv can slash and burn your arts you’re not doing it right.

  • Huebner

    Hey, let the Americans have fun playing with a command economy for a change. I’m with dougtoney. If the guv can slash and burn your arts you’re not doing it right.

  • http://www.blankenstine.blogspot.com/ brineblank

    I really enjoy a lot of the items presented on drawn but sometimes you guys make me want put my head through a wall…While I’m not a big censorship guy at the same time there is a point where ‘the art’ movement gets absurd and if you want to be as such do it in your basement behind a curtain. I was listening to a radio show not too long discussing the NEA (tax-payer funded of course) and a group of art students from NY asked for funding to do classical training and to re-establish fundamentals with regards to human anatomy (aka known as a bit of life drawing)…response…denied…not cutting edge enough…it was great (and I mean that sarcastically) to learn that a woman did have her grant approved which allowed her to put her (by choice) aborted baby in a clear jar of red water to display in some art museum…if there weren’t so many kooks out there maybe the censorship might not be such an issue.

  • http://www.blankenstine.blogspot.com brineblank

    I really enjoy a lot of the items presented on drawn but sometimes you guys make me want put my head through a wall…While I’m not a big censorship guy at the same time there is a point where ‘the art’ movement gets absurd and if you want to be as such do it in your basement behind a curtain. I was listening to a radio show not too long discussing the NEA (tax-payer funded of course) and a group of art students from NY asked for funding to do classical training and to re-establish fundamentals with regards to human anatomy (aka known as a bit of life drawing)…response…denied…not cutting edge enough…it was great (and I mean that sarcastically) to learn that a woman did have her grant approved which allowed her to put her (by choice) aborted baby in a clear jar of red water to display in some art museum…if there weren’t so many kooks out there maybe the censorship might not be such an issue.