Anish Kapoor has joined others in the politically invigorated creative industries with his latest work “I Like America and America Doesn’t Like Me”. The piece reworks “I Like America and America Likes Me” by Joseph Beuys, subverting the original work to comment on the Donald Trump administration.
Bueys’ original performance piece saw the German artist transported via ambulance to the Rene Block Gallery, where he shared a small room with a coyote, an animal thought to represent America, to comment on the United States’ political strife and troubling social landscape. After three days, he was transported back to JFK airport, meaning he never technically set foot on American soil. Kapoor has recreated the poster for Beuys’ art, now featuring an image of himself with the title “I Like America and America Doesn’t Like Me”, using font that recalls Nazi propaganda.
Kapoor said in a statement: “I call on fellow artists and citizens to disseminate their name and image using Joseph Beuys’ seminal work of art as a focus for social change. Our silence makes us complicit with the politics of exclusion. We will not be silent.”
The British-Indian artist is known for owning the blackest paint and keeping it exclusively for his own use.
In 2015, Kapoor joined Ai Weiwei on a walk for refugees in London. Other artists responding to the current political turmoil include Illma Gore, who created a nude portrait of Trump. LaBeouf, Rönkkö & Turner also set up the HEWILLNOTDIVIDE.US live stream, set to run for the entirety of Trump’s presidency.