3D rendered image via frescomovie / Shutterstock.com
Over the weekend, a crew of artists who call themselves the
Trump Statue Initiative installed three golden living statues with the likeness of US president Donald Trump across Washington, DC.
The art installation was created to memorialize Trump’s most “narcissistic or racist or self-serving moments” in 2020. Filmmaker Bryan Buckley staged the project to highlight dipping points of Trump’s presidential moments, and roped in living statues in reference to Trump’s disapproval of having public monuments removed during the
Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement.
“I noticed that Trump was obsessed with statues,” Buckley shared with
AdAge. “I felt like the best thing we could do was to create these very honest statues of the legacy he’s living right now, that let the world see exactly who he is.”
One of the works, titled
Now Go Back to School, showcased “Trump” holding onto a golf club towards a masked student, referencing Trump’s decision to send children back to school for in-person education in the fall amid the threatening
pandemic in the country.
Another work, The Bunker, displayed “Trump” sitting crosslegged on the floor. The installation pointed at the time when the Secret Service had
brought him to the bunker inside the White House as the protests carried on outside the building. POTUS later denied the reports, claiming he was moved there
to inspect it.
The third installation, The Poser, recreated the scene at St. John’s Episcopal Church when Trump posed for
a photo op while holding onto a bible. The photo was taken moments after the riot police had used force to clear protesters outside the White House.
One of the installations was placed in front of the Trump Hotel, while the other two were in Freedom Park, which is outside of the mayor’s office.
When asked about the meaning behind the project, Buckley told
The Hill that it documents “the history [Trump is] painting of himself right now, where his narcissistic or racist or self-serving moments abound, this is what he’s leaving us with.”
[via
Artnet News, 3D rendered cover image via
frescomovie / Shutterstock.com]