The artwork Washington, D.C., has surely been waiting for has arrived: a statue of President Donald Trump holding up a Bitcoin.
The 12-foot-tall statue is of largely unknown origin. It arrived suddenly, mysteriously, outside the Capitol Building. When viewed from certain vantage points, this beaming, golden Trump can be seen with the Washington Monument in the distance.
Its makers are a group of cryptocurrency investors, per ABC’s local Washington affiliate. “The installation is designed to ignite conversation about the future of government-issued currency and is a symbol of the intersection between modern politics and financial innovation,” Hichem Zaghdoudi, a representative for the group, told ABC.
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Let’s have a conversation about the “installation,” then, which is really just a sculpture. I, for one, am fascinated by the noticeable lack of wrinkles on the sculpture’s face, the off-putting crispness of its suit, the bizarre ridges in its hair, the unnatural shortness of its arms. Perhaps these are all useful flourishes if the artists are, say, needling a distinctly American brand of kitsch à la Jeff Koons.
But if the artists are trying to puff up Trump’s reputation, which is what I’d say is happening here, the work isn’t really convincing. Then again, the work literally airbrushes out all his flaws, which is probably the point.
Critics have claimed Trump’s relationship to crypto is itself pretty flawed. In August, World Liberty Financial, the crypto firm launched by the President’s family, revealed plans to sell $1.5 billion in shares. The launch in September led to some pretty so-so results, but it still prompted some to wonder just how much Trump stands to profit from it all, a concern that has been voiced for months now. The Trump family has clung to the value of crypto, anyway: Eric Trump recently said crypto can “save the US dollar,” even as some experts have said the exact opposite.
Back to the sculpture. It came to Washington just as the Federal Reserve cut its key interest rate this week. Zaghdoudi, the representative for the group behind the work, said that the hope of the piece is to initiate “reflection on cryptocurrency’s growing influence.” This critic, however, is more preoccupied with the sculpture’s odd proportions.
For viewers, here’s some additional fodder for thought. This is not the first golden sculpture to find its way to Washington during the second Trump administration, though the others seemed to treat the President with less veneration. One featured a thumbs-up appearing to smash the head of the Statue of Liberty; the other had a TV that was painted gold and adorned an eagle to match.