Trump-loving artist sues the Smithsonian because it refuses to display his widely mocked

[workinclasszero]

Trump-loving artist sues the Smithsonian because it refuses to display his widely mocked presidential mural

Brad Reed 12 MAR 2019 AT 10:21 ET

Julian Raven, the conservative artist whose massive mural of President Donald Trump drew widespread hackles when it was shown at CPAC 2019, believes that his work deserves a wider audience.

The Daily Beast reports that Raven has “has been locked for years in a legal battle” to get his 16-foot-wide Trump mural displayed at the Smithsonian Museum, which has so far been cool to giving his work space.

Raven recently lost his case before D.C.’s U.S. District Court to force the Smithsonian to display the Trump painting, but he tells the Daily Beast that he’s prepared to take his fight to the highest court in the land.

“I have this incredible, unprecedented case that may go all the way to the Supreme Court,” he says.

https://www.rawstory.com/2019/03/trump-loving-artist-sues-smithsonian-refuses-display-widely-mocked-presidential-mural/

[The Truth Is Here]

1. It belongs in a Washington public shelter bathroom floor.

Begone, Raven.

[ExciteBike66]

8. Hey, what do you have against the poor homeless folks of DC?

[The Truth Is Here]

12. Nothing.

I thought it would be a nice place to shit on.

[lunatica]

55. Or a depiction of who to blame for their homelessness. nt

[blogslut]

16. It belongs on the side of some MAGA van

:0}

[The Truth Is Here]

17. it's already on one side of a truck

See below.. Graffiti artists should have a field day...

[Dave Starsky]

58. It would actually look good on a 1978 Dodge van.

Maybe that's what the artist was going for.

[Coventina]

2. This guy has no idea how museums work.

What a surprise, he's probably never been inside one, being a Trump humper.

[workinclasszero]

4. Isn't that the way all great artists got into museums of art? Suing for gallery space in court?

Trump lovers are the biggest SNOWFLAKES of them all!

[Wounded Bear]

6. On the contrary...

I believe he knows how museums work in authoritarian countries, when ideology trumps artistic merit.

And yeah, pun intended.

[DetlefK]

3. The painting reminds me of Third Reich-era art.

Stale, uninspired, no subtext, no subtly, no message.

:large



Also, please note how there's a border between the US and Mexico but not between the US and Canada.

[AJT]

9. Hey, this could be used as part of the wall!

Having "brown" people climb all over it would be appropriate.

[workinclasszero]

13. "The painting reminds me of Third Reich-era art."

Yep that's exactly what is is!

[MrScorpio]

23. That's atrocious

He should have been ashamed to show that garbage in public.

[DBoon]

30. because Stalin's socialist realism does not sink this low

Nt

[Vinca]

31. OMG - that's hideous.

[The Genealogist]

34. Don't let Trump near it, he ll try to hump it

It has a flag, and you know how he goes all super bizarre when he sees one. God that is one tacky painting. Makes dogs playing cards on velvet seem like high art.

[underpants]

42. DetlefK you've failed to realize the artist's real life inspiration for this work

?cid=19f5b51a5c87e730316c6933326ba14a

[shanny]

52. Also too: lousy eagle.

[bullwinkle428]

67. Something one's hard-right-wing uncle can beat off to in his "man cave".

Apologies for the visual!

Oh, I just noticed the border wall too!

[NYC Liberal]

68. Trump wishes he EVER had that much hair!

[Judi Lynn]

71. Outlandish! Childish, shabby, godawful.

Wherever it goes, if anyone shows it, it should be accompanied by a looped recording of John Ashcroft singing "Let the Eagle Soar."

[dalton99a]

5. It really belongs in the National Gallery of Art

or the Metropolitan Museum of Art

He should try those

[The Truth Is Here]

14. Graffiti artists needs to get busy

making Trump look worse than he is now.. or an improvement...

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

33. Is God a registered voter?

Where does he live? Or is he yet another undocumented immigrant and is therefore voting illegally?

So many questions come to mind.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

35. I'll have to go with the National Portrait Gallery.

It's part of the Smithsonian.

National Portrait Gallery

[Snake Plissken]

7. Is this the guy who used to paint those black vetlet professional wrestling portraits?

[The Truth Is Here]

18. Nah, that's Bruce White

At least he has some semblance of respect than the Raven moron.

[irisblue]

10. From the Daily Beast..

Source for RS-https://www.thedailybeast.com/the-artist-behind-the-16-foot-wide-trump-painting-wants-it-in-the-smithsonian

Max Tani (@maxwelltani) Tweeted:
incredible art at CPAC this year https://t.co/yxZyMdpNeb

Link to tweet

snip
"Raven, who is representing himself in the case, hasn’t had much luck in courtrooms so far. His attempt to force the museum to hang his painting rests on shaky legal footing, and a judge on the U.S. District Court for the District of Columbia dismissed his initial lawsuit on the grounds that the museum enjoys “what amounts to complete discretion in choosing portraits.” Rather than having his own free speech rights violated, the judge ruled, Raven was attempting to compel speech from the museum.

“The First Amendment simply does not apply to government art selections, no matter how arbitrary,” Judge Trevor McFadden wrote in the memorandum dismissing Raven’s charge.

Raven hasn’t given up. He has a pending appeal in the D.C. Circuit court of appeals, premised on a complicated theory about the Smithsonian’s legal status within the federal government. Raven argues that the Smithsonian is not a part of the federal government, but is instead a trust run by the government. That means, Raven claims, “guaranteeing free speech participatory rights to the beneficiaries, we the people!”



snip...& out of sequence from Daily Beast..."Raven initially requested that the National Portrait Gallery display his painting to coincide with Trump’s 2017 inauguration. But he said that the gallery’s director, Kim Sajet, told him that it was “too political” and “too big” and, generally, just not very good."

more at article

[workinclasszero]

44. "Raven, who is representing himself in the case.."

This guy, I swear!

[procon]

11. The "art" is amateurish and it looks more like the background for a

campaign poster, and definitely not museum quality... unless you count the cheesy gold frame.

[JohnnyRingo]

15. He kept pushing the Smithsonian until...

..they finally had to tell him that it isn't very good. ouch

"But everyone at CPAC loved it". hahaha

[The Truth Is Here]

19. If someone at CPAC loved it, why didn't they buy it right off the spot

and put that ugly garish shit on their mantel?

[JohnnyRingo]

26. And take down the dogs playing cards original?

Trumpers have discerning taste in art.

[The Truth Is Here]

29. In velvet?

You gotta know the REthuglican taste..

[jmowreader]

38. The poker playing dogs paintings are better than this

Not sure if you know this, but in their American Art sale of 2015 Sotheby’s sold the original of one of those poker-playing dogs paintings for $658,000.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2015/american-art-n09425/lot.78.html

Another one sold in 2008 for $602,500.

http://www.sothebys.com/en/auctions/ecatalogue/2008/american-paintings-drawings-sculpture-n08495/lot.25.html?locale=en

As opposed to this Trump painting that would sell at Home Depot for $6.95...as a drop cloth.

[mahatmakanejeeves]

40. Why doesn't Trump buy it and hang it in the White House, or

outside, facing Pennsylvania Avenue, where the public can appreciate this masterpiece at all hours of the day and night?

[JohnnyRingo]

47. How's he going to buy it?

New York closed down his charity foundation.

I get the outside display though. It'd be interesting to see it looks like after a couple days... or nights.

[underpants]

43. Trump posed for this work

?cid=19f5b51a5c87e730316c6933326ba14a

[mn9driver]

20. A poorly executed imitation of old Soviet propaganda art.

Crudely rendered and disturbing.

[JohnnyRingo]

21. He has some actual reviews on a website.

From real people, even some you've heard of !!

"Trumpian" Mark Mckinnon
Mark McKinnon (born May 5, 1955) is an American political advisor, reform advocate, media columnist and television producer.

"Amazing!" Tony Katz
Anthony "Tony" Katz is an American radio host, author, and political and cultural commentator. He hosts a daily radio show called Tony Katz and the Morning News on WIBC in Indianapolis.

"This 16 foot Trump painting is the star of CPAC" Will Sommer
Tech and internet reporter @thedailybeast

"Your painting was such an iconic and memorable part of CPAC. " S. Fowler.
Attorney.

"Priceless" CPAC visitor at the HUB.

[edhopper]

22. I think people here are being to hard on th art

it looks like professional commercial art or acceptable political campaign art.

Museum quality....?

[SWBTATTReg]

24. The Smithsonian has millions of objects stored away for lack of display spaces. This painting...

and the artist is being rude, and inconsiderate to the thousands and millions of other objects that deserve being displayed far more than a purely for the politics painting. If you want the damn thing displayed, do it on your own damn dime, not ours, the taxpayers. Quit wasting our time and money and leave the Smithsonian alone.

By the way, this so called painting is tacky beyond belief. Like the truck stop velvet paintings you see everywhere.

[smirkymonkey]

36. +1000

[JohnnyRingo]

25. Do you know what would be hilarious?

The Smithsonian has cavernous basement storage where artifacts not yet ready for display are kept. I imagine it looks a lot like the scene from "Raiders Of The Lost Ark" with endless rows of indexed crates.

Put it there and forget about it.

[MissMillie]

27. I'm disappointed that Raw Story posted an image of the mural

it gives Raven the audience he's looking for.

Frankly, I think Raven thought the lawsuit would get him his audience, and when the media posts his mural in conjunction w/ the story on the suit, Raven is getting exactly what he's looking for.

[JohnnyRingo]

66. Don't you want to see the image in question?

The whole news article is useless without understanding how absurd the painting truly is. One might assume it's a masterpiece well worth display.

Since his work is so amateurish, all the attention in the world won't change his life as an artist. He'll always have a day job.

[MissMillie]

70. given the phrase "widely-mocked"

My guess is that it's not a masterpiece worth display. (Of course the news article doesn't really go into detail about who is mocking it.)

My take was not so much about whether or not the art was worthy, but rather this "artist's" sense of entitlement. Someone said no to him... so he took them to court.

Man needs thicker skin.

[Ohiogal]

28. I am reminded of the old Mad magazine phrase

"Suitable for framing or wrapping fish...."

[mahatmakanejeeves]

32. He's no Ben Garrison, or Jon McNaughton either.

Where are the captions?

Request in advance: please don't alert on this as a RW talking point. If you can't understand this, please find some other post that won't hurt your feelings so much.

Now this here is art:

Exploiting our Archives, Paternity Leave Edition: The Trump-Loving Patriotic Kitsch of Ben Garrison
....

Garrison is perhaps best known for the way that he draws Trump. In Garrison’s admiring eyes, Trump is not a dumpy, seriously overweight seventy one year old in shapeless, unflattering, ill-fitting suits with comically long ties or all-white golfing gear that makes him look like a giant toddler-man perpetually in danger of ruining his white pants by shitting himself in anger and rage.

No, the Trump of Garrison’s vivid imagination is a straight up stud. He’s a cross between a golden god and a romance novel hunk. In one particularly adoring comic strip, Trump is literally a white knight single-handedly destroying the dragon of Political Correctness, to the horror of Jeb Bush, who is depicted as a hysterical damsel who, like everyone bad in Garrison’s work, is driven to a state of insanity and desperation by the astonishing, almost preternatural brilliance of Trump as a politician and a leader.


....

For lots more of this: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&q=ben+garrison+trump

Here's Ben Garrison's Twitter feed, so you can see for yourself: https://twitter.com/GrrrGraphics

As for Jon McNaughton:

YOU ARE NOT FORGOTTEN

For lots more of this: https://www.google.com/search?tbm=isch&sa=1&q=james+mcnaughton+trump

[PoindexterOglethorpe]

37. As has already been said, he clearly doesn't understand how museums work.

Many, maybe most, museums get all sorts of donations, not all of which are worth exhibiting. Some of them manage to rotate their displays to display more work over time.

I don't think the Smithsonian happens to do that, but they certainly have far more worthy pieces of art than they can possibly put out there.

And this one sure as hell isn't a worthy piece of art.

[LiberalFighter]

39. His art sales didn't take a nosedive because of the Smithsonian.

[Blue Owl]

41. Does that guy do magabomber van graphics?

n/t

[Tommy_Carcetti]

45. This reminds me of an episode of the show Strangers with Candy...

....where the school art teacher, Mr. Jelineck, claims he is being "censored" because art galleries aren't prominently displaying his art on account of the fact that it wasn't very good.

(Great show to watch, by the way. Features Stephen Colbert in one of his earliest acting roles.)

[Hassler]

46. Chump has turned everything into an Onion story

[sinkingfeeling]

48. It isn't good enough to hang anywhere except the side if a barn.

P.S. Why is the American flag flying backwards in this great work if art?

[workinclasszero]

49. As long as it's not facing the road!

[struggle4progress]

50. Great! When he wins, the Smithsonian will display my art, too!

I had a wonderful vision of my favorite two dozen administration officials

I plan to sculpt these ten-foot-tall figures from a massive pile of offal and ordure, before adding a surface of living maggots

It will be a very modern piece, with a central nozzle spewing hydrogen sulphide and salmonella

[The Velveteen Ocelot]

51. Even apart from the content, it's lousy art. It's no better than a state-fair velvet Elvis.

I do some painting as a hobby, but even though I kind of suck at it shouldn't I be able to demand that the Smithsonian exhibit my stuff, too?

[Thomas Hurt]

53. Cult of Personality mentality

Let's put that up on the wall of every other building in America. So that all true Muricans know Dear Leader is watching you!

[area51]

54. Ugh, the Smithsonian's right, it's not a good work of art.

Why not compromise and display it in a Smithsonian urinal?

[renate]

56. I thought all American citizens had a right to display any artwork they made in the Smithsonian

I've been hand-embroidering this toilet seat cover for weeks. All for nothing.

[Skidmore]

57. One of Trump's golf clubs might be the best venue,

next to the fake Time mag covers.

[salin]

65. I was thinking a prominent placement in the lobby/atrium area of Trump Tower.

Connect odious to odious.

[lunatica]

59. Makes you wonder what his political affiliations are doesn't it?

It’s too subtle to tell.

[onenote]

60. The judge that ruled against the artists was a Trump appointee

That's how weak the guy's case was.

https://docs.justia.com/cases/federal/district-courts/district-of-columbia/dcdce/1:2017cv01240/187695/54

[GoCubsGo]

61. A.K.A.: Entitled Snowflake Can't Take "No" For An Answer.

Another wingnut with delusions of grandeur pissing away our tax dollars with a series of frivolous lawsuits. IOKIYAAR.

[workinclasszero]

62. Yep

MAGA’s are the biggest snow flakes of all!

[Gothmog]

63. That is an ugly painting

Link to tweet

[Hortensis]

64. I can see it in the Smithsonian some day, but Trump

wouldn't be pleased with a display of how a surge of ultrapartisan authoritarian dishonesty, developed and weaponized by a defunct billionaire class and a hostile foreign state, threatened the very existence of our democracy. And in the process elected a morally depraved and mentally disordered buffoon.

[Ms. Toad]

69. Looks to me like a poorly rendered paint-by-number mural. n/t