Professor’s Painting of a Decapitated Donald Trump Displayed as Artistic Expression

When Murderous Political Opinion is Passed Off as Artistic Expression

What do you get when you send out political opinion masquerading as contemporary ‘Art’? A painting, depicting a decapitated President Donald Trump, riding full-bore on a pale horse supposedly stressing the importance of “protecting even objectionable artistic expression”. That’s what! “I looked, and behold, an ashen horse; and he who sat on it had the name Death; and Hades was following with him. Authority was given to them over a fourth of the earth, to kill with sword and with famine and with pestilence and by the wild beasts of the earth. “— Revelation 6:7-8 NASB.

What do you term a center of learning refusing to remove one of its own professor’s graphic painting depicting a decapitated Donald Trump? An atmosphere like the one provided worldwide by ISIS, who force their beliefs down the throats of others. That’s what! The professor’s painting the University of Alaska at Anchorage is refusing to remove “shows a nude Captain America (as portrayed by liberal actor Chris Evans) standing on a pedestal and holding Donald Trump’s head by the hair. The head drips blood onto Hillary Clinton, who is reclining provocatively in a white pant suit, clinging to Captain America’s leg. Eagles scream into Captain America’s ear, and a dead bison lies at his feet.” (HeatStreet, April 20, 2017) The painting, created by Prof. Thomas Chung, stands in ‘full gory’ as part of the university’s art exhibition this month.

Surely Prof. Chung seeks being the blowhard of the artistic world. If the professor wanted to vent his spleen in paint, he could have displayed his masterpiece in his attic. “But it became controversial after a former adjunct professor, Paul R. Berger, posted the image on Facebook, saying he was “not sure how I want to respond to this.” On one hand, he posted, “first thing that comes to mind is freedom of expression,” but he also noted the university’s exhibit was publicly funded.” (HeatStreet) “Not sure how I want to respond to this,” Professor Berger? Try decisive outrage for a display in such poor taste! Decapitation is evil both in reality and in art. The defense of the display by the chair of the University of Alaska Anchorage’s fine arts department in an interview with the local NBC affiliate, is downright laughable, in consideration that this is the same university that covered up nude sketches in the past.

“If [students] were taking a class at the university and made art that was considered controversial, no matter what their political or religious bent is, we would do our best to protect them and protect their rights to make that kind of work in the institution, whether it would be a student or a faculty,” he said. “Nude sketches were covered to avoid offending a church group a few years ago, the Alaska Dispatch News reported, and offended parents also moved a sculpture of a penis, damaging it.” (HeatStreet) …”The university also has a recent history of defending controversial expression. In the early 2000s, administrators defended a professor after a Native American grad student claimed her poem “Indian Girls” was racist. The statement issued by then-president Mark Hamilton is still cited on campus today. “In it, Hamilton wrote: “Opinions expressed by our employees, students, faculty or administrators don’t have to be politic or polite. However personally offended we might be, however unfair the association of the University to the opinion might be, I insist that we remain a certain trumpet on this most precious of Constitutional rights.” Sadly, the “certain trumpet” of the University of Alaska Anchorage is sounding very much off-key these days, Mr. Hamilton. Could it be because there are few things less constitutional than ‘Captain America’ posed, holding a head of a decapitated president, dripping blood on a patriotic American citizenry? Meanwhile his university should mark Prof. Thomas Chung as an artiste who who flunked Art 101.



Judi McLeod -- Bio and Archives Copyright © Canada Free Press RSS Feed for Judi McLeod

Judi McLeod is an award-winning journalist with 30 years’ experience in the print media. A former Toronto Sun columnist, she also worked for the Kingston Whig Standard. Her work has appeared on Rush Limbaugh, Newsmax.com, Drudge Report, Foxnews.com. Older articles by Judi McLeod

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