(Images: Alex Garland for CHS)
This has magically appeared on E Pike at 11th. More, ahem, below the jump. It doesn’t get better. UPDATE: We’ve added even more pictures of the curious scene.
https://twitter.com/julieanton/status/766302742042124288
So, what does the plaque say?
https://twitter.com/tcolar/status/766308627695095811
UPDATE: It’s a movement!
https://twitter.com/jamesmichael/status/766293927955542016
And Los Angeles, too…
Trump statue in LA (photo from INDECLINE) pic.twitter.com/qwWtV66fg9
— Peter Holley (@peterjholley) August 18, 2016
But, it wasn’t magic:
Hoping to strip away the Teflon Don’s legendary confidence to reveal the fleshy mortal beneath the expensive suits and long ties, members of the anarchist collective INDECLINE decided they would showcase the aspirant president in the most humiliating way they could imagine: without his clothes. The group unveiled a life-size statue of Trump in the nude Thursday morning in New York and reported that statues were also unveiled in public spaces in San Francisco, Los Angeles, Cleveland and Seattle.
UPDATE x2: Here are more images from the fun with Naked Trump:
UPDATE 3:53 PM: An SDOT representative tells CHS that the department has staff out at the scene of the statue to evaluate whether the installation “impedes safe pedestrian access” in the area. A decision has not yet been made on removal, according to the spokesperson. We’ll update when we learn more. In the meantime, the first live feed switched into archive mode. Here’s another feed that is slated to be live until 5:
UPDATEx2: Gone?!! Here’s the report from @CaseyBerner from just before 4:30 PM:
black pickup truck drove up and men got out, ripped off sidewalk and put into truck bed. People tried to get it out, drove away.
UPDATEx3: Naked Trump lives? Tipster says: “Trump was saved and put into no parking on pike”
UPDATE 8/19/2016: Quite a finish to Naked Trump’s first day on the job in Pike/Pine. The caper described above involving the “heist” of the nude statue came about after the INDECLINE artists reportedly heard that the City of Seattle was considering the installation’s removal and asked for help keeping it safe, according to E Pike business owner Dave Meinert. You can see how the rescue played out here:
https://twitter.com/terileemcclain/status/766467106871271424
Seattle’s Naked Trump rested peacefully in the No Parking vintage shop overnight:
Max #wherethewildthingsare is like "you think this girl is crazy, check out #nakedtrump behind me" #DonaldTrump pic.twitter.com/F8JIONmsTt
— carnitos (@carnitos) August 19, 2016
If you look closely around the store, you’ll find E.T. — a noted illegal alien — and a picture of Bill Clinton to keep the Donald company. No Parking is located at 1102 E Pike and is typically open Fridays 1 to 7 PM if you’re hoping to pay a visit. CHS stopped by last Christmas to talk with owner Billy Hutchinson about his one-of-a-kind Capitol Hill store.
Home of the Baby Doll Tree, No Parking on Pike offers more than ‘junk boutique’
Those hands are looking a little large…
Live feed :)
Live feed is brilliant!
Amazing Justin!
LOVING THE LIVE FEED JUSTIN!!!!!
Body shaming isn’t cool, no matter what side of the party lines you stand on. Come on Capitol Hill, you are better than this. There are other ways to beat him.
Misogyny, racism, Islamophobia etc. trump a little body shaming. It’s a hilarious piece of political street art. I love it.
Fighting hatred with hatred gets us nowhere.
Lacking a sense of humor doesn’t get us anywhere either.
Considering no one has said anything about Trump’s weight, but rather are simply guilty of displaying a lifelike depiction, sans clothing, accusing the artist of ‘body shaming’ is quite a stretch. I believe a more obvious conclusion would be that this is a depiction of ‘the emperor without his clothes’. If so, the only way this could then be called ‘body shaming’ would be if they changed the dimensions from reality.
http://feministing.com/2016/08/19/psa-your-transphobia-and-body-shaming-isnt-radical/
This lays it out this point of view well.
#nakedtrump should be trending, it’s not. with the number of people taking photos, hopefully it will be soon
When will naked Hillary appear?
when will you be done making it?
as has been pointed out in other venues, the genitals on this statue look like the genitals of many intersex and trans individuals. equating these genitals with repugnance and shame, especially on a person who will, if/when in power, likely criminalize queerness further than it is already, in what is historically a queer neighborhood, is pretty tone deaf. another of these statues is also installed in the Castro, another historically queer neighborhood in San Francisco.
I understand the point of the piece, and that the intent of the artist was *not* to shame or insult queer, trans, and/or intersex individuals, but instead to lash out at our common enemy in a way that would wound him personally. but the precise form of the message, delivered in this context and neighborhood, could have been thought through a little more clearly. this message of shame and insult to Trump could have been delivered without the collateral damage against the bodies of our friends, family, and ourselves.
i appreciate the intent, but the delivery could use a little work, is all I’m saying, especially in this particular place and time.
but those genitals also look like the genitals of an overweight Caucasian senior citizen, maybe on a cold day. I’d say it’s a pretty reasonable approximation of what Trump’d look like in the nude.
Some of you find a reason to be hurt and offended over everything that exists out in the world these days. Get a grip, you sound ridiculous,
Dissertations are written on this kind of stuff.
You know something? Ive seen many dudes who have similar goods.. None of whom were trans or intersex. Nice try though.
“impedes safe pedestrian access”. I’m thrilled SDOT is finally concerned. Maybe they can get the fire hydrants, traffic signs, signal boxes, garbage cans, newspaper boxes and lights out of the intersection while they are at it. What an excuse!
Could you imagine the outcry if a right wing group sculpted an unflattering figure of Hilary? Cankles, belly, stretch marks, veiny grandma titties. Seattle would trip out. #EnoughSeattle
I think it’s hysterical though.
Trump brought the size of his genitals into our national conversation, he has degraded the tone himself. He suggested that he is well endowed and implied that the size of his genitals was an attribute, I see this as his just dessert. I know some might see this as transphobic or that we would be horrified if Hillary were represented similarly (which I would) but Trump opened the door on this and Hillary has not invited us to consider her sexual performance.
3rdEye on Thursday, August 18, 2016 – 6:35 pm said:
“Could you imagine the outcry if a right wing group sculpted an unflattering figure of Hilary?”
I’m sure there’s some yokel in a Texas barn putting the finishing touches on one at this very moment….
If the purpose of art is to elicit a response then I believe we can call ‘The Emperor Without His Clothes’ a smashing success.
Watching you progressive folks trip over yourselves to justify your hatred and shaming just adds further fuel (not to mention, validation) to those who call you hypocrites. Your amen corners give you all the affirmation that you need that you are somehow special, and that the rules of diversity and tolerance don’t apply to you. It’s just yours for the taking because that’s the privilege you’ve enjoyed since the day you were born.
Yes, you are the more intelligent of the two groups (liberals and conservatives). You’re more educated.
Which makes it all the more terrible that you have the exact same proclivities as your dumber, less educated opponents.
You do the same things that they do, you just get away with it because nobody in your privileged circles ever call you out on it.
It’s a precarious house of cards that only stands so long as everyone keeps up the delusion that your hatred is somehow superior to the other groups hatred, and your bigotry is somehow superior to their bigotry.
All I think it shows is that most humans, whatever side of the political spectrum they’re on, just aren’t very good people. We all just rationalize and justify our behavior while demonizing the other guys.
The inability to see our own faults as clearly as we see those of others, and the deluded notion of our own self-riteousness has turned us into caricatures.
I haven’t been proud of my chosen side for some time now, I’m just too big of a coward to confront them in real life, because the ostracization that follows dissent is swift.
Anyway, rationalize away …
“… Yes, you are the more intelligent of the two groups (liberals and conservatives). You’re more educated.”
Speak for yourself.
“Which makes it all the more terrible that you have the exact same proclivities as your dumber, less educated opponents.”
LOL! WTF!
Wow. A Trump supporter is a blowhard. Big surprise.
Hey – just to clear up the story here, because Justin and The Stranger are reporting it sort of wrong:
Naked Trump went up. My office is a half block away. I was heading over to Mario’s for a drink and a slice when I saw several SDOT staff gathering near the corner where Naked Trump was. I posted something wondering if SDOT was about to remove it. I then crossed the street and asked them if they were going to, and they said yes. Then Billy, the owner of No Parking on Pike approached me and asked if I could contact the city to get them to stop. I did but didn’t get an immediate reply. Both Billy and I had read how the statue in New York was taken by the Parks department and damaged, and we both knew that if left, even if SDOT didn’t take it, the nighttime bro dudes would probably destroy it. We both thought the Seattle statue should be preserved – maybe put on permanent display on the corner, or donated to MOMA or something. Billy said he’d keep it in his shop to protect it until it was decided what to do with it. In the meantime, SDOT got back to me and said it would be left alone (because SDOT director Scott Kubley rules).
So I did some quick research and got an email address for Indecline, the art group who supposedly pulled the naked Trump’s off around the country. I asked them if we should save it (wasn’t sure since maybe it was their intent to have them wrecked), and their response was “SAVE IT”. So, someone who works for me got the statue off the sidewalk and put it in Billy’s store, where it now lives.
I’ve been in further contact with Indecline and we’ll speak more about it today. It’s in Billy’s possession but I assume he’ll do whatever Indecline wants done with it – save it, burn it in the street, auction if off to donate to the Hillary campaign, etc. Any great ideas?
Thanks for the update. Let the historical record reflect… :)
Very cool of you to respect the artists like that.
I think his speech and actions call for this. So in keeping with his maligning of everyone else !