I am conservative by nature when it comes to attacking people, and I never feel comfortable about works of art that are too openly or viciously attacking people.  Sexual imagery in art also does not really impress me, but that may well be because I have young children and quite honestly, I don’t find the work of art, about which all this fuss has erupted, of any interest.  I do however believe that the Goodman Gallery will succeed with its side of the argument, which battle they are really only entering into from a principle point of view, because the work of art known as “The Spear”, has already been sold to an overseas buyer (whether that deal stands with the work being damaged is another issue).

In other words, it would not affect them at all to take it down and send it off to its new owner overseas.  From a principled point of view, I do believe in artistic expression, and more than that, even if one does not believe that artistic expression should go so far, I cannot see what can possibly be achieved, at this late stage, by ordering the Goodman Gallery to take the painting down.  A small little gallery, about 300 metres from my offices, which has shown the work to a couple of 100 people is, to a large extent, no longer relevant in the whole story, because the fuss that has been made about the work of art has seen to its reproduction in cartoons and actual photographs and images of it all over the Internet, which by now have been seen by millions of people.  In other words, simply nothing will be achieved by ordering the Goodman Gallery to take the work of art down, because most people are not seeing it in the Goodman Gallery but they have seen copies or images of it in the media as well as on the Internet and all the current court case is going to do is going to ensure that many more hundreds and thousands of people will see this piece than would have ever been the case if the ANC had not decided to bring its current court application.  I would expect the court to rule against them, on that basis alone.