Brace yourself, Williamsburg. A pro-Trump art show, featuring the work of enfant terrible Martin Shkreli, touches down on Saturday, October 8.
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β#DaddyWillSaveUs,β billed as βan art show for patriots,β is the brainchild of gay conservative artist Lucian Wintrich, who claims to have been fired from his job as a digital strategist βwhen I came out β¦ as a Donald Trump supporter.β Wintrichβs erotic photo series, βTwinks4Trump,β featuring shirtless gay men in βMake America Great Againβ hats, went viral during this summerβs Republican National Convention.
Along with those images, the show will feature Shkreli, VICE Media co-founder Gavin McInnes (he left the company in 2006), and Breitbart editor Milo Yiannopoulos, another rare conservative gay public figure, as participating artists. In an election season thatβs been full of Donald Trump-bashing art, in a neighborhood known for its liberal leanings, the exhibition is sure to rile some feathers.
βWho knew that the way to be on the cutting edge of controversy in the art world would be to support Donald Trump?β Yiannopoulos said of the event in a statement. βThe LBGT communityβs response to Lucian and his fellow artists is embarrassing. How can a movement dedicated to expression, pride, and diversity be so dead set against diversity of opinion?β
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Despite the involvement of Shkreli, who spent $2 million last year on the Wu-Tang Clanβs Once Upon a Time in Shaolin, the exhibition will be crowdfunded. An IndieGoGo campaign, which describes the event as βa really YUGE party with some incredible people,β has currently earned $8,485 of a $22,500 goal.
Meanwhile, Shkreli is still looking for that special someone interested in spending $50,000 for the privilege of punching him in the face in support of an employee who recently lost his child to cancer. Shkreli has offered to match that amount, but an initial bidder backed out of the deal last week, according to UPI.
In a video on IndieGoGo, Wintrich claims that his show βwill make art great againβ and βsort of troll the art world.β He may have already been successful in the latter goal: the exhibition is being hosted at Boiler | Pierogi, a well-known art gallery in Brooklynβs Williamsburg.
In an email to artnet News, gallery co-owner Joe Amrhein insisted that the gallery, which is mostly closed and is hosting outside events during a transitional fall period, was unaware of the true nature of the show. βOur understanding of it, up to this point, is as a satirical, Andy Kaufman-esque project by the comedian/artist,β he wrote. βThis is not something that we would have shown as part of the gallery program and did not intend to support it.β
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βAny money that would be made by Pierogi through this exhibition will be given to the Hillary Clinton campaign,β Amrhein added. βA hopefully fitting irony for this narcissist asshole.β
The β#DaddyWillSaveUsβ opening will take place at 191 North, 14th Street, Williamsburg, Brooklyn, October 8, 8:00 p.m., and be on view October 10β13, 2016.
UPDATE: Amrhein sent artnet News a note stating that the exhibition will no longer be held at the Boiler. βHe can find somewhere else to show it. Iβve been getting too much contradictory information and realized that heβs been lying to me all this time. We gave him the benefit of the doubt, but that was my fault,β Amrhein wrote. βDown deep I thought a satirical show about Trump was a good idea, and still do, but [Wintrich] really believes in this stuff. Itβs all about freedom of speech, according to him and now weβre βnon believers.ββ
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