The Unofficial Presidential Portrait of Barack Hussein Obama
Acrylic and oilstick on unstretched canvas
152.4cm X 416.56cm (60″ X 164″)
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Detail from The Unofficial Presidential Portrait of Barack Hussein Obama
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.Detail from The Unofficial Presidential Portrait of Barack Hussein Obama
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.Detail from The Unofficial Presidential Portrait of Barack Hussein Obama
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(click for full view)
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Coup d’etat
Acrylic and oilstick on three unstretched canvases
369.5cm X 180cm (145.5″ X 71″)
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Zimbabwe
Acrylic on unstretched canvas
152.4cm X 312.42cm (60″ X 123.42)
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Cell 49
Acrylic and oilstick on chipboard and wood frame
109cm X 80cm (43″X 31.5″ )
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Drink Coca-Cola, Farkhunda, Drink Coca-Cola
Acrylic and oilstick on wood
56cm X 122cm (22″ X 48″)
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The Binding of Gutiérrez
Acrylic and oilstick on stretched canvas
76cm X 122cm (30″ X 48″)
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American Supper
Acrylic on wood
109cm X 212cm (43″ X 83.5″)
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Jusqu’ici Tout Va Bien
Acrylic on wood
104cm X 75cm (41″ X 29″)
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Achilles
Acrylic on wood
91.44cm X 200cm (36” X 78.75”)
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Rotten Tomatoes
Acrylic on wood
118.11cm X 74.93cm (46.5 X ”29.5”)
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Nedā
Acrylic on wood frame and glass
57.78cm X 47.62cm (22.75” X 18.75”)
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We Know Who You Are, Fucker
Acrylic on particleboard
49.53cm X 134cm (19.5” X 52.75”)
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American Jihad
Acrylic on MTA map and chipboard
57.15cm X 72.39cm (22.5″ X 28.5″)
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Avatar
Acrylic on Pressure Cooker
27.94cm X 45.72cm (11″ X 18″)
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ji·had
jəˈhäd/
noun
1. a holy war undertaken as a sacred duty by Muslims.
2. any vigorous, emotional crusade for an idea or a principle.
Human life is cheap against the wall of ideas. The Florida cop with a glock aimed at the unarmed civilian, the American sniper with crosshairs on the head of a woman or child, or the ISIL fighter with the knife on the throat of a journalist. All believe an idea in their head is more important than human life.
We live in the age of Jihad but it’s not a recent invention. It’s older than modern humans and found even in our cousins Chimpanzees who wage war. But the bullet, knife or bomb is not god, just a violent manifestation from the mind of the malignant narcissist where grandiosity is built around aggression and the destructive aspects of the self become idealized. Erich Fromm’s definition is equally comfortable with toxic religious ideologies enabled by violence as well as in western democracies where the murder of young men and women cast as heroes is celebrated as a sacrifice for good. Even more terrifying is the cool law of percentages, aka collateral damage, designed to white wash images of relatively low numbers of children blown to pieces by drones.
The human with nothing to lose is most dangerous when imprinted with a nihilistic ideology. An idea can be a powerful force to motivate an individual to self-annihilate while at the same time murdering families out buying vegetables, or opposing ideas, two states having a stare down with nuclear missiles.
As the idea gains power the value of human life plummets.