On October 17, this space first wrote about a liberal, anti-Trump “OppArt” section on the left wing website TheNation.com that regularly publishes “Artistic Dispatches from the Frontlines of Resistance.” So far in 2018, the artistic Resistance has continued to be peddled on the far-left magazine’s website.
The so-called art posted on January 8th drew a parallel between Kim Jong-un, Vladimir Putin, and Donald Trump, depicting the leaders’ likenesses on top of three cockroaches, with each leader’s face appearing on one cockroach.
Apparently equating Trump with the North Korean and Russian leaders, the piece carried the title, “Dangerous Critters,” and the text underneath the title read: “Trump, Putin, Kim Jong-un: Worldwide pests uncontrolled.” According to the brief description of the artist responsible for this piece: “Cristiam Ramos is a Mexican artist working with unusual materials (spiderwebs, butterfly wings, etc.). He is the winner of 20 international awards and two world records.”
In a post featuring a short video titled “Not My President,” the familiar anti-Trump chant, “Hey hey, ho ho, Donald Trump has got to go” played as the following words and phrases were shown on a silhouette of Trump’s profile:
Liar, Tyrant, Bigot, Amoral, Corrupt, Cruel, White Supremacist, Disgrace, Ignorant, Money Launderer, Climate Change Denier, Misogynist, Thief, Traitor, Immature, Homophobe, Unstable, Deranged, Bully, Racist, Fraud, Impeach, Sexual Predator, Not My President[.]
Text beneath the title said: “Calling him out, calling it what it is.”
A piece titled “Kremlin Cover Band” depicted Trump onstage in front of a crowd, holding up an American flag while standing in front of a small version of Russia’s iconic St. Basil’s Cathedral—beneath the title it read “How Stars and Stripes Become a Red Square.”
Pieces pushed climate change propaganda in a post titled “Rising Seas: Artists Visualize This Crisis.” Catastrophic imagery in one cartoon depicted dead animals floating in red water as the Monopoly man rode in a ship filled with moneybags while the vessel’s smokestacks spewed black smoke into a red-orange-colored sky. One of the other pieces portrayed the Empire State Building and other structures fully submerged as fish swam around them.
“Hair Furore” mockingly depicted Trump washing and fixing his hair and included a “Brought To You By” section that listed “Fox News, Koch Industries, Head And Shoulders, Suavecito Combs, Helmet Head Hairspray” and “Monsanto.” Beneath the title it said: “Teasing out strands of truth.”
OppArt launched the new year by publishing the not-so-lyrically titled piece, “Smash the Patriarchy.” It depicted a series of clenched fists within a pinwheel, with the phrase, “Smash the Patriarchy” on the pinwheel’s center. Below the title some text declared: “With the winds of change: Intersectional feminism will make the world go round.”
