Trump administration against Obama's portrait painter: "Very woke, aesthetically horrifying"

The U.S. State Department removed a painting by artist Kehinde Wiley from the U.S. embassy in the Dominican Republic, after it was described as "very woke" and "aesthetically horrifying." Wiley painted the official portrait of former President Barack Obama. The move is part of a broader policy of politicization within the State Department's art program.

The United States State Department, under the Trump administration, removed a painting by American artist Kehinde Wiley from the U.S. embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic. The painting was described by department officials as "very woke" and "aesthetically horrifying." Wiley is best known as the painter of the official portrait of former President Barack Obama, displayed at the National Portrait Gallery in Washington. According to a report by the New York Times, the State Department is exploring the legal feasibility of selling the artwork. For comparison, a smaller painting by Wiley sold earlier this year at auction for about $845,000. The removal marks an escalation in efforts to politicize the State Department's art program, which has been operating since 1963. This year, under the leadership of Lynne Scabino, the department led to the dismissal of the ambassador to Romania over "Satanic baby art," appointed a member with no curatorial experience to the Venice Biennale, and organized an exhibition titled "Make Art Great Again" featuring dozens of versions of the U.S. flag.