A
painting of the United States sinking into a toilet now on display in
the cafeteria of the state Department of Justice has raised the ire of
the California state Republican Party, which is demanding that Attorney General
Bill Lockyer remove the image.
The
painting -- part of an exhibit of more than 30 works by lawyer artists
and pieces with overt legal themes -- has an American flag-painted
continental United States heading into a toilet. Next to it are the
words: "T'anks to Mr. Bush."
The
artist, Stephen Pearcy, a Berkeley lawyer with a house in Sacramento,
won earlier notoriety for hanging an effigy of an American soldier on
the outside of his home here with a sign saying "Bush lied, I died."
Angry residents tore the effigies down.
To support his thesis, Pearcy recites a litany of government actions he
objects to including torture of detainees, censorship, hiring "more cops
rather than teachers," SUVs and lack of corporate accountability.
In front of Pearcy's painting is a pair of ceramic Western boots whose
creator, Corrine Singleton, said represented Western justice.
Other artists also expressed political sentiments:
John K. Landgraf, who created the Blind Justice in her cell with blood
spattered across it, said "the current administration's constraint and abuse
of Justice (for whatever reason) cast an ominous shadow over our nation's
moral integrity."
Another artist called for an end to genocide in Rwanda.
"I
don't know why we need to tolerate the cheap artwork of a gadfly with a
world view that is so offensive to a majority of the people," said
Karen Hanretty, a spokeswoman for the California Republican Party.
Didn't I see Ms. Hanretty leaving WalMart the other day with a shopping cart full of Bill of Rights toilet paper? I think I did!
