Assange’s painting wins Bald Archy prize

A painting of Julian Assange has won this year’s Bald Archy prize.

Melbourne: A painting of WikiLeaks founder, Julian Assange, has won this year’s Bald Archy prize.

The caricature by French artist Xavier Ghazi has portrayed Assange with his trousers around his ankles, urinating into a top hat with the US flag on it. The Bald Archy - a parody of the Archibald Prize for portraiture - is a competition of humorous works of art, making fun of Australian celebrities and politicians. There were 46 finalists in this year’s competition, with "the two Jules", Julia Gillard and Julian Assange dominating the competition, founder Peter Batey said at the announcement in Sydney. Ghazi, 60, said he had first thought of calling his painting Pissing Off The Empire. "Having a leak in Uncle Sam’s hat is pissing off the empire," the Daily Telegraph quoted him as saying. "It’s not as much about the US as it is about global power and instruments of domination," he added. It was Ghazi’s fourth time to win the 5000 dollars prize, now in its 18th year. ANI