November 2008 | Vol 1 | Issue 47
Sasol committed to art, just not art featuring penises
JOHANNESBURG. Oil giant Sasol says it remains committed to supporting South African artists but has urged them to create work more in line with Sasol's ethos of complete corporate subjugation of free will. The statement follows weekend revelations that the winner of this year's Sasol New Signatures art competition had upset the company's employees by showing a glimpse of a penis.
Familieportret No 2, a photograph by artist Richard Strydom, also featured a young woman baring one of her breasts. However Sasol spokesman Pieter-Willem Botha said that staff had had no problem with the breast.
"We at Sasol accept that all art is ultimately about looking at naked women," he told the media this morning.
"There is nothing more natural than a nice big breast pinned up on a cubicle wall or in a workshop, or slipped into your desk drawer."
He added that he was "obviously talking about a picture of a breast and not a real breast" as it would contravene health and safety regulations to pin a real breast to a cubicle wall.
However, he said, the penis featured in the photograph had been too much for many at Sasol's head office.
"For most of our male employees the penis represents frustration, disappointment and failure," said Botha.
"And for our female employees it pretty much means the same."
He said that Sasol would continue to sponsor the New Signatures competition to help identify and nurture artistic talent, but hoped that artists would enter more appropriate pieces next year.
"Obviously we're not going to dictate form and content," said Botha. "But if entrants are unsure, perhaps a useful guideline might be to aim at the sort of thing that the members of our Board have in their homes."
He said these included bronze sculptures of leopards drinking at watering holes, photo-realistic paintings of lovable black urchins playing soccer, "and obviously lots of stuff by the doyen of bespoke domestic art, Carol Boyes".
"In fact we are hoping that Carol enters Sasol New Signatures next year," he added. "Maybe with a big set of salad spoons that can represent the past and the future of South Africa, coming together to load the lettuce of harmony and the feta cheese of forgiveness onto the Boardmans crockery of democracy.
"Or something lekker arty like that."
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