Portrait of Mayor Hazel McCallion,In 2005, I wrote a post on Mississauga mayor Hazel McCallion, and an unflatterting portrait of her. I critiqued the painting in a post titled, Portrait of a Lady: Not in her likeness (below is the full post).
Titled: 1984
By Byron Osmond
Technique:Osmond used an old photo of the mayor,
which he blew up and overlaid with chalk and
watercolours... [KPA: i.e. Number Painting for "artists"] (Source)
I never followed up on my article, and critique, but it turns out that Byron Osmond, the portraitist, was ordered to remove the portrait from his store window by the Port Credit Business Improvement Association, according to this article:
A Mississauga business group demanded a local storeowner remove his portrait of long-time Mayor Hazel McCallion from his storefront window, saying the artwork is "offensive."
This order came in 2005, at about the same time I wrote the article.
I tried to find out more of Osmond's "rationale" for painting such a portrait, and what happened to him since.
Here are some quotes from a 2005 article in the National Post (the full article follows the link):
- Mr. Osmond titled his portrait of Ms. McCallion 1984, referencing the George Orwell novel that features an all-knowing, all-seeing character named Big Brother.Mccallion is retiring with her reputation and dignity in tact this coming Fall. Not only that, she is credited to building and supporting the Square One area of Mississauga with a network of a Mall (Square one), a library, a Living Arts centre (an entertainment, art gallery, artist's center, restaurant, a vibrant transportation system, etc.) during her tenure. She has received many awards and recognitions. This is the woman he's calling Orwellian, in his portrait I posted above.
- He said his art was meant to portray Ms. McCallion, who has been Mayor since 1978, as wielding significant power but not doing enough to promote art.
- "I did it with all due respect," he said. "It was not meant to be disrespectful."
- He said it took him only a couple of hours to put the portrait together, using an old photo he had of the Mayor that he enlarged and finished with chalk and water colours.
- He said the hair was coloured purple to "represent that she is dated, especially when it comes to arts in Mississauga."
- The red in the background, he said, was meant to reinforce her image of strength. There are also several footprints around her portrait, which Mr. Osmond said were those of his four-year-old child, further meant to stress that "someone younger should be running the arts."
- He said he was unnerved by the suggestion that the display in his window was offensive.
- "I was, dumbfounded," he said. "I don't need municipal censorship. That's what really hurts."
Osmond has been discredited as an artist, but seems to continue with his photography business, where it is listed as Byron's Photography, in Port Credit (near Mississauga). But, further search (through google maps) for his given business address, 106 Lakeshore Rd. East, gives no result for his store. At 106 Lakeshore Rd. East, is a hair salon called Shazam.
In 2005, putting up a nefarious portrait of a public figure causes the city's citizens to boycott your business, and to ensure your demise.
What about ten, short years later, in 2014? Is anyone exempt from such retaliation? And if so, who is?
See the rest in Portrait of a Lady: Revisited
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Thursday, November 03, 2005
Portrait of a Lady: Not in Her Likeness
Mayor Hazel McCallion is one of Canada's outspoken, daring and most successful leaders of a city.
She dared to voice her mayoral point of view on free-loading refugees and immigrants taking over her hospitals and institutions, at Canadians’ tax payers expense.
Now it seems the arts community is also feeling her bite. As usual, it is the mediocre ones who complain.
Byronn Osmond, a photography store owner, was asked to pull down an uncomplimentary painting of the mayor. His reason for putting up this dismal portrait: The mayor doesn’t support the ‘arts’.
He finally took down the painting due to negative publicity for his business. So his higher ideals are all about money.
But once again, here on Camera Lucida, it is always interesting to look at the work of art, and see how it fits with the behavior of the beholder.
Let’s analyse this situation:
1. Osmond actually took a photograph of the mayor, which “he enlarged and finished with chalk and water colors.”
True to 'artists' of Osmond’s ilk, they have no drawing skills, are adept at tracing and copying, and keep their photoshop always at hand.
2. It’s full of simplistic and childish codes.
- Purple hair to show how ‘dated’ McCallion is
- Red to show her ‘strength’, I think he means her power, which not a good thing
- The footsteps around her, courtesy of his young son’s prints, to show that art should be run by someone younger
Borrowed footprints, borrowed portraits, and a little bit of slapdash paint does not art make.
Like the piggy-backing immigrants, McCallion has realized that artists belong into that category as well. And Osmond has a hard time accepting it.
Posted By: Kidist P. Asrat
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