Posted on 08/29/2004 3:47:15 AM PDT by Stoat
Tompkinsville artist Scott LoBaido is rolling out the welcome mat for next week's Republican National Convention, with a patriotic art show entitled "Hail to the Chief," opening tomorrow at a Manhattan gallery.
And the unapologetically Republican LoBaido has a message for GOP convention delegates, who will spend four days in Democratic New York City beginning on Monday.
"You have a native New Yorker welcoming you," LoBaido said yesterday. "Come see art that's not against you."
The show will be held at the Tribute Gallery at 24 Broadway, and opens with a reception tomorrow from 6 to 9 p.m. featuring the Mike Morreale Big Band. The show runs through Sept. 20.
LoBaido, known for his confrontational "street art" style and paintings lambasting Mayor Michael Bloomberg, said he thought of mounting a show immediately after hearing the GOP convention was coming here.
"I jumped right on it," LoBaido said, as he gave some visitors a preview of the exhibit. "I have to have a major show. That's what I do."
NO VENUE
Preliminary sketches in hand, LoBaido made the rounds of art galleries around Manhattan, only to find himself shut out.
"Art is to provoke thought and emotion under any political circumstances," LoBaido said. "Doesn't someone want to be unique?"
Though disappointed, LoBaido said he wasn't surprised that what he called the city's "liberal" arts community was uncomfortable with his work, which uses hyperpatriotic imagery to mock Democratic standard-bearers like Sen. Ted Kennedy, Michael Moore and Alec Baldwin.
That's when the Tribute Gallery, a multimedia space that focuses on New York City history, including the period following Sept. 11, stepped in.
"The fact that he couldn't find anyone to give him a voice made us want to do it all the more," said gallery director Emmora Irwin. "Everyone deserves a voice, no matter their viewpoint."
NOT MUCH TIME
With only three months to prepare the exhibit, LoBaido set to work finishing a number of pieces, including some honoring Presidents Ronald Reagan and George Bush.
Ten of the 18 paintings in the show are new, including "K.O.," a takeoff on the famous Muhammad Ali-Sonny Liston boxing photo, with Bush standing over a prone Moore, director of the controversial "Fahrenheit 9/11."
Another, "200 MPH," shows Bush behind the wheel of a NASCAR racer, speeding down the road toward a "stupefied" donkey.
"The message is: We're winning this election," said LoBaido, noting that he and Bush are both big NASCAR fans. "It's very Republican, very patriotic."
"It's a reflection on things that are very current," said gallery co-owner David Niles. "I see it more as political cartooning."
LoBaido is also showing two new pictures of Reagan, one of his idols.
'LARGER THAN LIFE'
One is a vivid, 60-by-90-inch red, white and blue portrait titled "Larger Than Life." Another, "Celebration," showing a dapper Reagan holding a martini glass, was done the night Reagan died.
"Reagan brought patriotism alive after that period of the '60s and '70s," said LoBaido.
"He has a viewpoint," Niles said of LoBaido. "Art is art. Artists make statements."
City Councilman James Oddo (R-Mid-Island/Brooklyn), an alternate convention delegate who has butted heads with LoBaido over the city's ban on smoking, said he plans to attend tomorrow's reception.
"It's great to see someone from the arts with a more conservative perspective," Oddo said.
Tom Wrobleski covers politics for the Advance. He may be reached at wrobleski@siadvance.com.
A touching sentiment. As a lover of the arts, I would love to find a place to be at home.
Translation..."I like money, and this will definitely sell."
For your daughter, Jane.
Agreed. A public venue to enjoy art that's not based upon the same tired old "conservatives opressing the common man" and "anything done by healthy white people is, by definition, evil" themes would be a breath of fresh air.
I hope that the artist featured in this article gets thousands of visitors and sells everything he's displaying
:-)
Well, most gallery owners are quite likely interested in making money. The difference here is that the other galleries were given the same opportunity and they turned it down because it conflicted with their ideologies.
Too bad for them...they made a bad business decision.
The gallery that accepted this artist's work will get the press, and the others won't.
I would imagine that they will come to (privately) regret their decisions.
Wow! Pretty strong stuff....I agree with and appreciate the sentiment, of course, although it's not something that I would want hanging in my living room :-)
But as a public display piece it's powerful and makes a great point...a worthy point....the sort of point that is almost completely absent from the artistic landscape these days.
I hope that this artist's work catches on and he makes millions of dollars :-)
New York One is usually all liberal, all the time, but they had a nice report today about this guy. I'll have to go check it out.
Is New York One a TV station?
That would be great if they had some footage of the art
:-)
Anyhow, I'm glad to hear that he's getting some press, regardless of the medium.
ack!! I did a search on this, and couldn't find an article on it and I reposted it. Please don't shred me :o)
I've done exactly the same thing; please don't worry :-)
I'm glad that you also found the article interesting; best wishes to you and yours :-)
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