An incendiary billboard in Arizona portraying American President Donald Trump alongside Nazi iconography is causing a stir for its stark references to the sitting president.
La Melgosa, a gallery that “supports the arts community in Phoenix”, commissioned Santa Monica, California-based artist Karen Fiorito to create the imagery of Trump flanked by dollar swastikas and nuclear clouds. For added effect, there is a Russian linchpin on Trump’s lapel and clown faces form the mushroom clouds.
The back of the billboard features a depiction of five fists forming sign language letters with the word “unity”.
“I think a lot of people are feeling this way and I’m just trying to express what I think is on a lot of people’s minds these days,” Fiorinto told local channel 12 News. “Something that really concerned us was this idea of a dictatorship where things were going in a certain direction.”
As for the clown faces?
“I tried to put a little bit of humor in things that are really dark and hard to take,” Fiorito said.
The billboard and the property beneath it is owned by art patron, Beatrice Moore. She said it will remain there until Trump’s presidency is over.
