Mining magnate Gina Rinehart’s quest to have an unflattering painting removed from the National Gallery of Australia has sensationally backfired, with the story — and the artwork — now going global. It is a modern day Streisand effect and we just truly, genuinely, hand on heart, hate that for Gina.
The painting went viral last week after news outlets picked up the story of Rinehart’s distaste for the piece — and the Gallery’s decision not to remove it. Now, it has picked up international attention, with Stephen Colbert giving it airtime on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
“In news from Down Under, a billionaire has called for the removal of an unflattering portrait of her from the National Gallery of Australia,” he said in the clip, which has already clocked more than half a million views on YouTube alone.
“I’m no art expert but in this portrait I believe the artist really captured her expression at the moment she saw this portrait,” he added.
The story has also been picked up by CNN and BBC, just to name a few. So let’s hope Rinehart believes in the whole “all publicity is good publicity” thing, I guess.
But to add insult to injury, Aussie comedian Dan Ilic is now also crowdfunding to get the painting chucked up on a billboard in Times Square.
The campaign “Put Vincent Namatjira’s work in Times Square” has raised over $15,000 of its $30,000 target — and has brought even more media attention to the painting.
“Australian artist Vincent Namatjira’s latest exhibition, Australia In Colour is now on show at the National Gallery in Canberra,” the campaign reads.
“But because it’s in Canberra, not many people know about it. Or know where Canberra is.
“To be honest, many people around the world don’t even know what Canberra is.
“So this is an invitation to help get as many people to know about Australia In Colour as possible by putting the highlight of the show on a huge billboard in Times Square the week of the 27th May.”
This isn’t the first time Ilic has gone viral for his billboard antics, you may remember back in 2021 when he plastered an ad about koalas going extinct due to our piss-poor climate action policy.
In an interview with The Project, Ilic welcomed Rinehart to plaster a painting of him on a billboard. Honestly, I couldn’t think of anything more iconic.
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