Imbroglio Over Anti-Cop Agiprop Art Exhibited on Capitol Hill

[L] Artist David Pulphus [R] Rep Lacy Clay

Representative Lacy Clay (D-MO 1st) held a contest to display artwork on Capitol Hill.  The winner was 18 year old Cardinal Ritter Prep High School Senior David Pulphus with "Unnamed #1".  

This piece has stirred controversy as the adolescent's artwork depicts cops as pigs brutalizing blacks. It should be noted that a prominently depicted agitator is also depicted with lupine features giving the "Black Power" salute. Pulphus's piece also inserts a black man in graduation garb being crucified by the scales of justice. 



Charitably this can be considered an allegory to the unrest unleashed in Ferguson, Missouri, the birth place of Black Lives Matter.  But it seems more like an épater les bourgeois to defame cops as animals.  It is ironic that the one business featured in the painting is a beauty shop, which was one of the businesses that black owned businesses in Ferguson that BLM rioters burned. 

But Joe Patterson with spokesman for the St. Louis County Police Association noted: "[W]e are not about censorship, but good art and good taste are sometimes not the same thing.” Patterson characterized Pulphus's Untitled #1 as a "punch in the face" to law enforcement and commented: “This is an extraordinarily disrespectful piece at a minimum."  There have been calls from Police Associations around the nation to take down the pig headed anti-cop artwork.

Representative Clay  refused to take Pulphus' piece down since it won the contest and that he was not attempt to approve or disapprove of artistic expression, yet the Congressman also called the piece "the most creative work that he has seen in 16 years." Moreover, Rep. Clay claimed that he could not find anything offensive in the painting as:  "I find it to be an expression of what one of my constituents is feeling about what he has experienced.”

The work had been exhibited since June 2016 in the tunnel that leads to the Longworth Building on Capitol Hill for several months before the controversy.

Post Scriptus 01/06/2017 15:00 EST:  Representative Duncan D. Hunter (R-CA 50th) took down "Untitled #1" on his own accord.  Hunter invited his House colleague Clay to put it back up if he wanted. 

Update 01/09/2016 19:00  On National Law Enforcement Appreciation Day, the Congressional Black Caucus (CBC) announced their intention to rehang Pulphus' Anti-Cop acrylic artwork. The CBC stated:

“The rehanging of this painting for public view represents more than just protecting the rights of a student artist, it is a proud statement in defense of the 1st Amendment to the U.S. Constitution which guarantees freedom of expression to every American."

Update 01/17/2017  The Architect for the Capitol has determined that Pulphus' anti-cop art violates contest rules about depicting controversial political subjects and will be taken down for good by January 18, 2017.

UPDATE 04/18/2017  DC Federal Court Judge John Bates denied issuing a preliminary injunction to restore display of the painting while the litigation continues. Rep. Rep. Clay and artist Pulphus plan on appealing the ruling.

Should Anti-Cop agiprop artwork be exhibited on Capitol Hill?

Yes

No

Obama White House Dog Run?

White House photograph Pete Sueza  snapped a telling shot of President Barack Obama running through a corridor of the White House with First Dog Bo.

Representative Darrell Issa (R-CA  49th) took a great verbal snap with this snapshot by combining this picture with  the controversy of the Obama Administration's cancellation of White House tours supposedly due to Sequestration.    Issa's commentary was "We've finally got he place to ourselves..." along with the caption  "Our Capitol doors are always open".

On a related note, President Obama blamed the Secret Service on Wednesday for laying off personnel due to the sequester and he has hinted at the resumption of tours for student groups of the American People's House.  

It should be noted that this statement comes after what ABC News' George Stephanopolis characterized as "considerable heat" over the cancellations.  Several prominent people, including Fox News Channel anchor Eric Bolling along with real estate mogul and "The Apprentice" host Donald Trump had offered to write checks to continue the White House tours after the Sequester. 

It seems that the Obama Administration is shifting the heat, as there are current headlines that the sequestration's "shoestring" budgeting (which is just cutting the rate of increase of the federal budget) will cancel the Fourth of July concert and fireworks on the National Mall.  At least this aggressive austerity does not indiscriminately release incarcerated illegal aliens.   And no Independence Day celebration would allow the Ellipse to be a gigantic dog run. Or a nearby golf course on Federal land.