President Obama portrayed in "gunsmoke" by Cleveland artist Loren Naji
by Steven Litt/Plain Dealer Architecture Critic Wednesday January 21, 2009
It's no secret that Cleveland artist Loren Naji detests former president George W. Bush and is very glad to see him go. At Asterisk Gallery in Tremont, he recently displayed a portrait of Bush 43 sculpted in dried bull dung.
Tuesday night, after the inauguration of President Obama, Naji and friends performed a stunt on Cleveland streets by igniting portraits of Bush, which then burned away to reveal images of Obama rendered in "gunsmoke."
The video is too fuzzy to allow a true appreciation of Naji's finished portraits of the new president. It's also questionable whether filming images of Obama's face surrounded by flames is truly a tribute. Police officers in a squad car apparently weren't sure, either.
Suffice it to say the video radiates a certain raffish and sophomoric charm. But please, judge for yourselves.
