Above photo: An art installation at the U.S. Capitol attracted scores of admirers in a short period on Friday, June 27. J. Zangas/ DCMediaGroup.
Washington DC—An anonymous artist has set up untitled installation art near the U.S. Capitol revealing their interpretation of the state of the U.S. presidency. The prop consists of a golden gilded television, a golden gilded eagle atop it with its wings spread, and golden laurel, resting on a grey column. A plaque is attached to the column with a raised quotation from the White House itself: “In the United States of America you have the right to display your so-called “Art” no matter how ugly it is.”
The TV screen projects a muted short television show consisting of a series of poorly edited clips depicting an oddly cumbersome Trump dancing at various events. A cut-away to a short clip of Trump and Jeffery Epstein at a party in the early 1990s is also included, but poorly spliced into the clip. The Trump-Epstein clip is made to jump in part from frame to frame like an early nickelodeon out of sequence with itself.
The Epstein reference is significant in that it references the dregs of a lawful society. Trump was depicted having a good time at a party with Epstein and Epstein was later imprisoned waiting trial on charges of sex trafficking of minors. His partner, Ghislaine Maxwell, was later convicted and sentenced for sex trafficking minors.
The short silent film is significant in that it is the only authentic part of the installation. The viewer sees Trump as he really is and who he hangs out with, and the picture show is the antithesis of statesmanship.
The setting of the installation requires the viewer to watch the TV show with the U.S. Capitol in the background. The Trump presidency exists with the consent of those in power within the legislature; though he has been twice impeached on sufficient grounds to remove him during his first presidency, he was not removed from office. And he was reelected.
In a short span of 15 minutes on a Friday afternoon, dozens of people came by to gawk and photograph the golden monstrosity, in spite of a misty rain falling. The installation drew countless curiosity seekers to it and caused conversations among strangers with similar worries and concerns. It exposed truth from underneath a thin golden veneer.
A rather large and aggressive man sat in a chair nearby admonishing anyone who touched the installation. He scolded one viewer for touching the column to see if it was real stone, yelling out, “How would you like it if someone thumped you in your head?” It wasn’t clear if he was actually a part of the installation.
The message of the prop is clearly a direct criticism of the Trump White House, its gaudy retrofit of the Oval Office with its golden artifacts all throughout, its triumphant ascendancy to the seat of power of a world power, and its inability to see itself in the reality which others see it.
Why display clips of Trump on television?
Television was discontinued decades ago as digital communications came online, rendering analog television signals obsolete and forcing television antennas to come down. Laurel is usually depicted as green, symbolizing vitality and youth. To preserve it one would need to gild it. As a gilded artifact, it too is a metaphor of something that is long past its prime.
The ancients, the Roman and Chinese, were master guilders and ornamented their tombs and monuments with gold leaf or gilded them with precious metal alloys. This prop is in effect entirely gilded, and at that, overdone and gaudy. It is saying there is nothing new to see here. This has been tried before.
The golden gilded eagle, normally a symbol of power and majesty, is in reality also a criticism of the Trump White House. The eagle was placed at the top of Nazi Germany buildings and in its parliament. It was often used as an ornament for kings and royalty. The Romans used it to symbolize power.
The inscription on the base of the column was a quote by a White House spokesperson in response to another article installation depicting a crushed head of the Statue of Liberty with a golden thumbs-up hand. It was installed in the same place in response to the President’s military parade held on June 15, two weeks ago. In the days it was displayed, it was photographed by thousands. Another installation before it depicted an oak desk with a pile of crap on it—a criticism of the January 6 2021 coup plotters who have all been pardoned.
Finally, the art installation rests on a gray column. There are no memorials or official buildings of the three branches of government supported with grey columns. The Supreme Court, U.S. Capitol, and White House; and the Lincoln, Jefferson, and Washington monuments, are all made with white marble. The color of the stone is significant in that it does not fit with the traditional architecture of Washington DC, nor with the grandeur of the pre-gilded Oval Office
The installation has all the hallmarks and elements of a Banksy production, but it could not be determined for sure who created the installment or assembled the prop. Previous Banksy art has been unauthorized painted silhouettes left abandoned in major metropolitan spaces. Many of Banksy’s works were installations inspired by political events or social injustices.
Whoever created this installation has hit a satirical grand slam in the protest art realm with the real imagery and unedited words of the occupants of the golden gilded White House.
