A large and rather raw sculpture that is making its way across America was on full display Thursday at the Lincoln Street Art Park in Detroit, where it is behind a chain-link fence. It’s a naked, towering depiction of former President Donald Trump as a marionette, suspended by a crane.
The outdoor effigy has been eliciting snickers, sneers — and the ire of politicians, who have called it a stunt.
In a twist, despite the artwork’s commentary on unveiling truths, those behind the work — including the artist or artists — have been shrouded in secrecy, with unnamed project representatives refusing to publicly identify themselves or give details how the project came to be or is funded.
Early Thursday, a curious motorist driving by the statue slowed to take a photo and then asked the two security guards making sure no one vandalized it just how tall it was. Forty-three feet, they replied. It wasn’t the first time they had been asked.
In fact, the men said, that scenario has played out nearly all night.
“I don’t know what to make of it,” Jay Moody, one of the guards who had been looking over the work since 1 a.m., told the Free Press. “People are taking pictures, laughing. It’s fully naked. I just can’t believe they are showing everything.”
Some Michiganders wondered about how people would react to a naked Vice President Kamala Harris statue.
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Art — especially graphic and controversial pieces — has long been a form of political expression.
One of Spanish artist Pablo Picasso’s paintings, “Guernica,” now in a museum in Madrid, depicts the bombing of Guernica, a town in northern Spain by Nazi Germany and fascist Italy, and had an antiwar message.
“Guernica,” went on tour — and display — around the world, and a copy of the painting, which was commissioned by Nelson Rockefeller, was woven into a tapestry and hung at the entrance to the United Nations Security Council room in New York, a reminder to all of the horrors of war.
The concept behind the Trump artwork might not be as momentous — nor is the concept original.
In 2016, five identical — and smaller-sized — statues appeared overnight on street corners in New York, San Francisco, Las Angeles, Cleveland, and Seattle. That project was reportedly titled, “The Emperor Has No Balls.” The works were later auctioned off.
The newer Trump sculpture also is making national headlines. It was briefly in Las Vegas, then Phoenix. It reportedly is made of foam, weighs 6,000 pounds, and, a Las Vegas TV station said, is part of what has been called the “Crooked and Obscene Tour.”
What that title means is open to interpretation, but part of the statue’s anatomy is quite curved.
The two men guarding the sculpture told the Free Press the artist is anonymous and isn’t doing interviews.
Late Thursday morning, the Free Press received an email from “CrookAndObscene” promoting a “provocative art instillation” that “aims to spark conversation ahead of election season.” The “big guy with the tiny thing is in town and so is his tiny twin.”
At 1 p.m., Trump gave remarks Thursday to the Detroit Economic Club.
The Detroit park where the Trump statue is located now is an industrial-looking outdoor gallery in the Northwest Goldberg neighborhood. It opened in 2011, and the Lonely Planet travel guide has described it as “a quintessential slice of urban-cool, DIY Detroit that’s always changing.”
Lincoln, interestingly enough, in addition to a Detroit luxury car brand, was also the first Republican president.
When contacted, someone from the private park offered the Free Press a phone number to someone who would not identify himself or offer many details about the project, including the cost, which he said was “not cheap” and “a privately-funded endeavor.”
As for the art, it was made in America and would be moving to different locations.
“We’re trying to keep this as under wraps as possible, in terms of who’s behind it,” he said. “We just don’t want the safety of the people involved to become compromised. We feel the statue — the marionette, rather — speaks for itself.”
When asked about public decency standards, the Trump statue spokesman drew a comparison to Michelangelo’s “David,” an Italian Renaissance sculpture in marble which also is naked. He did not mention, however, that over the years in deference to modesty, the statue of the biblical hero has had his genitals covered with a leaf.
USA TODAY — which, in addition to the Free Press, is owned by Gannett — reported earlier this month that Republicans in Las Vegas condemned the statue, while also aiming at Harris, the former president’s rival in the upcoming election.
Nevada Republicans called the art “deplorable,” “offensive” and “designed intentionally for shock value.”
The Arizona Republic, also owned by Gannett, reported the statue went on display briefly outside a Phoenix marijuana dispensary and those behind it said it was crafted “as a bold statement on transparency, vulnerability, and the public personas of political figures.”
Maybe.
Moody, however, said most people just seem to think a naked statue that big of anyone is amusing.
This story was updated to add new information.
