''The Emperor Has No Balls'' is a series of sculptures depicting

Donald Trump Donald John Trump (born June 14, 1946) is an American politician, media personality, and businessman who served as the 45th president of the United States from 2017 to 2021. Trump graduated from the Wharton School of the University of Pe ...

, then the Republican presidential nominee, by the activist art collective

Indecline Indecline, stylized as INDECLINE, is an American art collective. Members have said that the collective was formed in 2001 and is decentralized, with "dozens" of members in affiliated groups in several US states and a few foreign countries, and ...

Description and history

The five statues were installed in

Cleveland Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...

Los Angeles Los Angeles ( ; es, Los Ángeles, link=no , ), often referred to by its initials L.A., is the largest city in the state of California and the second most populous city in the United States after New York City, as well as one of the world' ...

New York City New York, often called New York City or NYC, is the List of United States cities by population, most populous city in the United States. With a 2020 population of 8,804,190 distributed over , New York City is also the L ...

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, and

Seattle Seattle ( ) is a seaport city on the West Coast of the United States. It is the seat of King County, Washington. With a 2020 population of 737,015, it is the largest city in both the state of Washington and the Pacific Northwest regio ...

in 2016. Their collective installation was executed by 40 people; ''

Rolling Stone ''Rolling Stone'' is an American monthly magazine that focuses on music, politics, and popular culture. It was founded in San Francisco, San Francisco, California, in 1967 by Jann Wenner, and the music critic Ralph J. Gleason. It was first kno ...

'' described the precision with which the sculptures were erected: "At exactly 11 in each city – 8 a.m. on the West Coast – two people dressed as construction workers carried out a 6-foot-5, 80-pound object under a blue tarp, brushed away detritus from the ground, spread a thin layer of fast-acting, industrial-strength epoxy, held the object upright for a matter of seconds, and walked away, disappearing into the gathering crowds." The statues, made using clay and

silicone A silicone or polysiloxane is a polymer made up of siloxane (−R2Si−O−SiR2−, where R = organic group). They are typically colorless oils or rubber-like substances. Silicones are used in sealants, adhesives, lubricants, medicine, cooking ...

, depicted the former president with

abdominal obesity Abdominal obesity, also known as central obesity and truncal obesity, is a condition when excessive visceral fat around the stomach and abdomen has built up to the extent that it is likely to have a negative impact on health. Abdominal obesity has ...

, an "old man saggy butt", varicose veins, a "constipated" expression, a

micropenis Micropenis is an unusually small penis. A common criterion is a dorsal (measured on top) penile length of at least 2.5 standard deviations smaller than the mean human penis size (stretched penile length less than 9.3 cm (3.67 in) in adults). ...

and

anorchia Anorchia (also called anorchidism or anorchism) is a disorder of sex development in which a person with XY karyotype, which corresponds to male sex, is born without testes. Within a few weeks of fertilization, the embryo develops rudimentary gon ...

, and were titled ''The Emperor Has No Balls'' on engraved plates at the base; they were commissioned from Joshua "Ginger" Monroe, a Las Vegas artist who designs monsters for haunted houses and

horror film Horror is a film genre that seeks to elicit fear or disgust in its audience for entertainment purposes. Horror films often explore dark subject matter and may deal with transgressive topics or themes. Broad elements include monsters, apoca ...

s. The Cleveland statue was in the Coventry section of Cleveland Heights; it was taken down within an hour. The New York statue, in

Union Square Union commonly refers to: * Trade union, an organization of workers * Union (set theory), in mathematics, a fundamental operation on sets Union may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * Union (band), an American rock group ** ''Un ...

, was removed early that afternoon; the New York City Parks Department made a statement that it "stands firmly against any unpermitted erection in city parks, no matter how small". A bystander bit a piece out of the hair of the San Francisco statue, which was in the Castro District; it was removed early the next day, at a cost of about $4,000 because of damage to the sidewalk. The Seattle statue, which was in

Capitol Hill Capitol Hill, in addition to being a metonym for the United States Congress, is the largest historic residential neighborhood in Washington, D.C., stretching easterly in front of the United States Capitol along wide avenues. It is one of the ...

, was claimed by a vintage store, No Parking on Pike, and the Los Angeles statue, on Hollywood Boulevard, by a local art gallery, Wacko, both before authorities could remove them. The following month, two more naked Trump statues, commissioned by a New Jersey arts collective, were installed on the roof of a warehouse overlooking the New Jersey entrance to the Holland Tunnel, where Indecline also placed an inverted US flag, and on top of a billboard in the Wynwood section of Miami; the Miami statue, which Indecline said was the same one originally placed in New York, was later moved by police request closer to the Wynwood Walls graffiti center.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Emperor Has No Balls 2016 establishments in California 2016 establishments in New York City 2016 establishments in Ohio 2016 establishments in Washington (state) 2016 protests 2016 sculptures Nude sculptures in the United States Outdoor sculptures in Manhattan Outdoor sculptures in Ohio Outdoor sculptures in San Francisco Outdoor sculptures in Seattle Outdoor sculptures in Greater Los Angeles Protests in the United States Sculptures of men in California Sculptures of men in New York City Sculptures of men in Ohio Sculptures of men in Washington (state) Statues in California Statues in New York City Statues in Ohio Statues in Washington (state) Statues of Donald Trump Political art

Description and history

See also

References