‘Aesthetically terrifying’: Trump admin takes new step toward selling Obama-era artwork
WASHINGTON, DC: The Trump administration is exploring a legal path to sell off a government-owned artwork by celebrated artist Kehinde Wiley.
The painting, titled "Young Artists After Siamese 1960," features four Dominican models positioned in front of a floral backdrop, which has been hanging in the US Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, since 2015.
Trump admin wants legal advisers to find ways to sell Obama-era painting
Marco Rubio's State Department is seeking legal guidance as part of an attempt to sell off a government-owned portrait, after removing it from the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic.
According to a report by The Washington Post, the administration is exploring legal ways to sell the painting labeled "woke" by Trump administration officials and was removed from the US Embassy in the Dominican Republic earlier this month. The painting was part of the embassy’s legal artwork.
Sharing a video of the painting removal, Ambassador Leah Campos said she wanted to move away from "woke" ideologies, the report notes.
The State Department on Tuesday, August 25, announced it is in discussions with "legal representatives to ascertain whether the art can be sold," adding that its stated goal is "to do so."
Erin Scavino, who was appointed executive director of Art in Embassies last year, also described the artwork as “very woke” and "aesthetically terrifying" in an interview.
She also said that her team worked to get the painting removed.
Artist painted Obama in genre reserved for whites
The artwork in question is done by celebrated painter Kehinde Wiley, who gained popularity in 2018 with an official portrait of former President Barack Obama.
Obama’s portrait is displayed in the National Portrait Gallery. The State Department's Art in Embassies website describes Wiley as a painter of "visually sumptuous" art that "reframes a genre historically reserved for elite, White subjects."
The State Department official did not cite a specific reason for the painting being removed but said that Wiley “has been accused of se*** misconduct by several individuals” and claimed he painted “violent and racist” depictions.
“The work of an individual with such violent and racist words and depictions has no place in the America First State Department,” the State Department senior official was quoted as saying by The Independent.
The outlet also reached out to Wiley for comment, and he maintained that he is a well-known contemporary artist known for his paintings of vibrant, flowery portraits that often feature Black people in powerful poses.
