2 years ago
BOSTON (NBC) -- Barack Obama is looking a lot like Abraham Lincoln in Boston, at least in one work of art. Artist Ron English was commissioned by Gallery XIV to paint a mural as part of a large show about art and politics.
English painted twelve portraits that combine the attributes of Barack Obama and Abraham Lincoln. He calls the artwork "Abraham Obama." "So it's twelve total images. It's basically based on twelve colors, and the colors move through the face in one direction and move through the background in the opposite direction," Gallery XIV's Will Kerr explained.
The work of art was meant to get people talking, but it is not the conversation that is stirring the controversy. After the mural was legally installed, the gallery's phone began ringing off the hook with people upset that the image was showing up all over the South End.
English had given away smaller posters of the mural, but they were plastered on streets, outside restaurants and even on private homes. "The image was put on people's private property, and no matter how you look at it, that's vandalism," Kerr said. But as the mural continues to turn heads, the gallery is asking everyone to take the posters down.
(NBC)
