Tony Blair triptych dominates new art exhibition
Published on: 13-Jun-2007
A new art triptych showing a naked Tony and Cherie Blair being ousted from Downing Street amid the chaos following the invasion of Iraq is to take centre stage at a major new exhibition at London's Royal Academy.Artist Michael Sandle, 71, painted the three-panel picture, entitled Iraq Triptych, after being "overcome with anger" over the Middle-East conflict.
And after winning the Academy's Hugh Casson Award for drawing, the touch-paper triptych will receive a prominent position in Gallery V of the Academy's Summer Exhibition - one of the world's biggest and best contemporary art displays.
"I wasn't going to submit this year, but I suddenly felt overcome with anger at the way Blair has messed up," Mr Sandle told the Guardian.
"I just had to do it - I thought: 'This guy just can't get away with what he's done'."
Sandle's triptych won the acclaimed prize after being whittled down from an original field of more than 9,000, and will now join 1,200 other pieces, including work from David Hockney and conceptual artists Jake and Dinos Chapman, in this year's Summer Exhibition.
