Leave it to New Yorkers to create witty and outrageous works of art inspired by Trump’s presidential campaign. From the recent “All-Seeing” Trump Zoltar machine to a mural depicting Trump as a giant pile of sh-t, these are some of our favorite snarky pieces we’ve seen around New York City within the last couple of months.
1. Hansky’s Trump
Street artist Hanksy, who has an affinity for “street puns,” painted this mural on Orchard Street at Canal Street on the Lower East Side. His inspiration came from the fact that “Trump kinda rhymes with dump.” The sudden epiphany gave rise to what locals are calling “Donald Dump.”
2. Naked Trump
In August, a pudgy and vein covered statue of Trump was unveiled in Union Square. Conceptualized by Las Vegas-based artist “Ginger,” the life-size piece was one of several erected by members of the anarchist collective INDECLINE across public spaces in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland, and Seattle. The project – dubbed The Emperor Has No Balls” – was inspired by Hans Christian Anderson’s story “The Emperor’s New Clothes.” It depicts Trump in a vulnerable and unsettling way: without balls, and has subliminal jokes carved into his skin. New York City Department of Parks issued an equally witty statement in response:
“NYC Parks stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks no matter how small.”
3. All-Seeing Trump Zoltar
The “All Seeing” Trump Zoltar machine distributes fortunes (or “misfortunes,” in this case) and spews out over 30 messages voiced by comedian Anthony Atamanuik. The mechanical Trump, equipped with a crystal ball, brags about becoming “the most popular President, EVER,” and talks about “deportation trains,” which run on “green energy, salsa verde.” He also wants to replace Obamacare with “I don’t care,” and invest “into modern high speed rail – very advanced, very fast…to deport 11 million illegal Mexicans.”
The machine itself was built over the course of six weeks by Characters Unlimited, a company based in Boulder City, Nevada, that makes the famous Zoltar machines and other mechanical characters. Here’s a Facebook live video we took of the Trump Zoltar at the Trump International Hotel at Columbus Circle:
4. STOP Trump Stop Sign
In Long Island City, the marriage of a city fixture with a political bumper sticker results in the ingenious form of propaganda that you really can’t ignore – STOP TRUMP.
5. Make America Hate Again
Working under the hashtag #spreadthehate, UncleDon2016 provides access to printable posters and stickers so that people can cover their neighborhoods with similar political posters. This poster, found under scaffolding on Houston Street just west of Bowery, shows Trump as a “LOSER” Uncle Sam in the famous “WE WANT YOU” pose, the U.S. Army recruiting poster.
6. Justice Jail Killer Cops
The mission of Peoples Power Assembiles is to empower oppressed people to demand jobs, education and healthcare while simultaneously fighting against sexism, racism and LGBT bigotry. The organization has called for solidarity in the face of injustice, and demands that the public protest against “Racist Trump & his media megaphone.”
7. Overthrow
This poster found on the Lower East Side has Michelle Obama’s famous line, “Where they go low, we go high,” with Donald Trump’s orangey-purple face getting punched by a boxing glove and arm tattooed with the Hillary campaign “H” logo and the words “Feel the Bern.” The “Info” section of Overthrow New York, an underground boxing club, is sparse, yet substantial. It leaves viewers with a simple quote by Abbie Hoffman, a self-proclaimed “cultural revolutionary”:
“I’m never certain how good a teacher experience is, but the American illusion is that it can’t be beat. ‘I’ve been there’ is equal to two degrees on the subject. Cold-bloodedly throw you body into the fight. You are an instrument of change.”
Its online store is also full of debate-provoking apparel, like a “Nobody for President” t-shirt.
8. Elect Drake
Remember, if both the Republican and Democratic nominee do not look favorable to you, you can always cast an empty ballot – or write-in Drake as a candidate to make the “Lower East Side Great Again.” This was a flier for an after hours party at Arlene’s Grocery, the music venue on Stanton Street.
9. Mailbox Trump
Since the city’s green mailboxes don’t receive a lot of attention, they’ve be repurposed as art canvases for political propaganda. This seems to be collaborative piece, as evidenced by the additional “Fuck Trump” exclamation and floating phallus. This piece was found on Broome Street, a few blocks from West Broadway in Soho.
10. Ourbucks Bank & Trust
We don’t have a lot of information about this piece but it’s clearly anti-Trump and anti-Hillary, the “Ourbucks,” a play on Starbucks.
11. Dump Trump
The team behind 6sqft found this wall mural plastered onto the president candidate’s own Trump Place development, where the residents are requesting the removal of the TRUMP sign on the apartment building.
12. Can’t Even Poster
Spotted on Bedford and south 6th, this anti-Trump poster is captioned with one of his many infamous quotes: “When Mexico sends its people, they’re not sending their best…They’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crimes. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
