A buyer at a Los Angeles auction house secured a piece of 2016 presidential campaign art history on Saturday as a statue of an overweight, naked Donald Trump squeaked past its high estimate at Julien’s Auctions, in Los Angeles, to fetch $22,000, reports the Los Angeles Times.
Versions of the statue depicting the Republican presidential nominee suddenly popped up in public places across the US in August and were just as quickly removed by local authorities. Showing the Donald’s trademark scowl and distinctive coiffure, the work also shows him without testicles, and bears the unsubtle title The Emperor Has No Balls.
The naked Trump sculptures are the brainchild of street art collective Indecline, which put out a statement in August, saying, “These fleeting installations represent this fleeting nightmare and in the fall, it is our wish to look back and laugh at Donald Trump’s failed and delusional quest to obtain the presidency.”
The statue is on exhibition at Julien’s Auctions Gallery on October 17, 2016 in Beverly Hills, California. Photo by Alberto E. Rodriguez/Getty Images.
It is the first time a work by the collective has come to auction, according to the artnet Price Database.
The version that sold on Saturday was rescued from the grips of local authorities by Matt Kennedy, director of the Los Angeles gallery La Luz de Jesus, which specializes in California-based artists.
Trump has made a centerpiece of his campaign the creation of a wall along the Mexico-US border. In his presidential announcement speech in June 2015, he warned, “When Mexico sends its people” to the US, “…they’re bringing drugs. They’re bringing crime. They’re rapists. And some, I assume, are good people.”
Part of the proceeds from the sale will go to support the National Immigration Forum, an immigrant advocacy organization.
Knowlege Bennett’s image Hillary Clinton Cojones was also on offer at the LA-based auction house. It depicts Trump’s counterpart, the Democratic nominee, making a macho gesture.