Artist Yiull Damaso, who provoked outrage with his controversial painting depicting Nelson Mandela as a corpse, will explain his actions to the Nelson Mandela Foundation tomorrow.
Damaso, 41, said yesterday that he would like to assure the Mandela family that his painting was not meant to disrespect Madiba, but that it was done out of admiration for him.
"Mandela is a great man but inside he's no different from the rest of us. He made some very good decisions in his life and I wanted to remind our politicians that they can also be as good and powerful as him."
Damaso's painting - a modern take of a 17th- century Rembrandt painting called The Anatomy Lesson of Dr Nicolaes Tulp - depicts an autopsy being undertaken in front of a group of doctors .
In Damaso's version, the former president is the cadaver with late Aids sufferer Nkosi Johnson performing the autopsy. Archbishop Emeritus Desmond Tutu and politicians FW de Klerk, Jacob Zuma, Cyril Ramaphosa, Trevor Manuel, Thabo Mbeki and Helen Zille look on.
The painting is being displayed in Johannesburg's Hyde Park shopping centre.
Damaso, who has done seven portraits of the ANC leader, including one depicting him with dreadlocks, said the management of the centre had informed him that they would take a decision tomorrow on whether the painting should be removed.
During an interview on Talk Radio 702 on Friday night, Damaso said he received death threats from callers.
The ANC and Cosatu have condemned the painting.
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