Tootsie Warhol Slams Whitney’s Biennial in 2019 for going too easy on Trump. A performance artist, Tootsie mocks the president and the Whitney at the museum’s front door.
Only in New York City…
One of the great things about living in New York City is the everyday chance of running into original characters like Tootsie Warhol. (Tootsie Warhol is a fictional persona invented to mock Donald Trump.)
He joins a character crop harvested this summer…
- Colin Huggins whose piano kills fascists
- The Pigeon Bird Man of Washington Square
- Sofia, the Hula Hoop Violinist in Central Park
My all-time favorite eccentric New Yorker is human rights activist and filmmaker Roberto Monticello, the Mayor or Meatpacking.
Tootsie Warhol Slams Whitney & Trump
Tootsie Warhol is one of a kind, adding active context to protests that altered the Whitney’s biennial.
An exhibit that’s as much about protest as it is about art caught flack because Warren B. Kanders sits on its board. Kanders is majority owner and CEO of Safariland, a company that makes tear gas used against civilians around the world.
Related: Melting Point NYC Immigration Protest
After eight artists asked to have their works removed, Kanders resigned from the board. A video eviscerating Kanders and Safariland is a highlight inside the exhibit.
But that’s not enough to satisfy Tootsie Warhol.
We met him as we left the museum. Topped with a bad Trump-style wig, his face bronzed, Warhol handed out Make the Biennial Great Again pamphlets and posed for selfies. His gripe? “73 artists, over 200 works, only 2 works addressing Trump…”
“Where’s the Whitney’s fighting spirit?”
Tootsie Warhol
Human rights abuses are listed in graphic detail in the limited edition pamphlet he handed out.
Tootsie Warhol Slams Whitney on Video
You may never meet the performance artist, but here’s my video of him doing his schtick. Enjoy. It’s only one minute long but greater in message impact.
Can You Hear Us?
In earlier meetings, a bright light behind Roosevelt Island Operating Corporation Vice President and General Counsel Gretchen Robinson had left her face nearly invisible. On July 2, 2020, with Susan Rosenthal gone and a new administration forming, Gretchen appeared fully lit.
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