Remember that painting of President Donald Trump that viewers spotted hanging in the White House during his bizarre “60 Minutes” interview in October? Artist Andy Thomas’ piece, titled “The Republican Club,” depicted Trump shooting the breeze with other GOP presidents. Here it is:
Well, New York artist Michael D’Antuono, 62, has reimagined the work in accordance with how he believes the scene would really play out. And he doesn’t believe Trump will be hanging his painting, titled “Party Pooper,” in the official residence anytime soon.
D’Antuono’s version shows Trump facing the wrath of the other presidents for cheating at cards. Protesters stand outside the window, and the Trump baby blimp also makes a subtle appearance. (more…)
After Charles Krause opened his gallery in 2011, he mounted shows of ideological and dissident art from earlier eras, much of it related to his former career as a reporter for The Washington Post and other outlets. But current events overtook the venue, recently transformed into the nonprofit Center for Contemporary Political Art. Its first exhibition, “Defining the Art of Change in the Age of Trump,” is heavy on breaking news.
Not all the more than 100 artworks directly address the current administration, but the show is not recommended for anyone suffering from Trump fatigue. And skillfully made as they are, such visual polemics probably won’t age well.
Satirical realist painter Michael D’Antuono depicts the presidents of the United States and Russia together on a rearing red, white and blue elephant, flanked by a palace guard of prominent Republicans. George Kennedy parodies Norman Rockwell’s four-freedoms illustration, interjecting Trump and his circle. Patricia Isaza uses real straw for the president’s hair in a fierce sculptural rendering. Kevin Champeny’s Trump portrait is made of hundreds of tiny plastic hands with upturned middle fingers.
“Broken windows” policing is a criminological theory that suggests a series of unpunished minor crimes, as represented by the eponymous broken window, eventually spirals into a cascade of more serious violent crime.
Social scientists George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson first outlined the broken windows theory in a 1982 Atlantic article, but the targeted policing it advocates wasn’t widely adopted until 1994, when New York City’s mayor Rudy Giuliani pledged to “clean up” the city.
As Sarah Cascone reports forartnet News, the roughly 60 works featured in Manhattan’s latest pop-up exhibition—the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Museum of Broken Windows—use art, archival photographs and newspaper articles to chronicle the toll of that policy, particularly on African American and Latino communities.
“Broken windows policing … has turned neighborhoods into occupation zones,” NYCLU advocacy director Johanna Miller said in a statement. “The goal of the Museum is to bring the emotional, physical and societal impacts of this style of policing to life for all New Yorkers, and elevate a critical conversation about what it means to be and feel safe in this city.”
Broken windows” policing is a criminological theory that suggests a series of unpunished minor crimes, as represented by the eponymous broken window, eventually spirals into a cascade of more serious violent crime.
Social scientists George L. Kelling and James Q. Wilson first outlined the broken windows theory in a 1982 Atlantic article, but the targeted policing it advocates wasn’t widely adopted until 1994, when New York City’s mayor Rudy Giuliani pledged to “clean up” the city.
As Sarah Cascone reports forartnet News, the roughly 60 works featured in Manhattan’s latest pop-up exhibition—the New York Civil Liberties Union’s Museum of Broken Windows—use art, archival photographs and newspaper articles to chronicle the toll of that policy, particularly on African American and Latino communities.
“Broken windows policing … has turned neighborhoods into occupation zones,” NYCLU advocacy director Johanna Miller said in a statement. “The goal of the Museum is to bring the emotional, physical and societal impacts of this style of policing to life for all New Yorkers, and elevate a critical conversation about what it means to be and feel safe in this city.”
A new series commissioned specifically for the exhibit features Tracy Hetzel’s watercolor portraits of mothers holding picture of their sons, all of whom were killed by the NYPD. As curator Daveen Trentman tells Cascone, these bereaved family members form a “sorority that nobody wants to be in” and have been vocal advocates of police reform.
Michael D’Antuono’s “The Talk” perhaps best encapsulates the show’s message. The 2015 painting finds a young African American boy seated on a couch across from his mother and father, who are attempting to describe the tale playing out on a television nearby. On the screen, a news ticker proclaims, “No indictment in police shooting of unarmed youth.” Below these words flash images of a white policeman and an African American boy whose bright orange hoodie mirrors that of the child seated on the couch.
The Museum of Broken Windows’ nine-day run is accompanied by a series of talks dedicated to the issues touched on in the show. Scheduled events include “Ending the School to Prison Pipeline,” which discusses hopes of ending police involvement in school disciplinary matters, and “Ending the Police Secrecy Law,” which focuses on the impact of a New York law that protects police misconduct records.
“Through art, we will uplift the movement of people who continue to seek justice,” Trentman said in a statement.
The Museum of Broken Windows is on view at 9 W. 8th Street, New York City, through September 30.
PBS’s Articulate segment, “The Last Refuge” hails the uncompromisingly dissenting art of Michael D’Antuono and that of two other artists as patriotic. The piece celebrates the importance of the artist’s role in sparking social justice.
Michael D’Antuono is an artist who challenges our social and political beliefs with his hard-hitting and often controversial paintings. His work has been featured here at Eclectablog before (HERE and HERE.)
Just in time for the confirmation hearings of Betsy DeVos, Donald Trump’s pick for Secretary of Education, D’Antuono has a new painting out titled “Class System” that graphically depicts DeVos’s tragic and devastating dream for public education in America: (more…)
Michael D’Antuono poses with Susan Sarandon beside his painting at Rock the Vote.
“There’s so many injustices, there’s so many things that are terrible, wrongs that you want to right.”
So said artist Michael D’Antuono, who displayed his racially charged work at Rock the Vote’s exhibit hall on Spring Garden this week. He was in good company: Banksy had a piece there, and Shepard Fairey’s posters covered two walls in the DNC-related gallery. With his space, D’Antuono decided to address racism in the criminal justice system. (more…)
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