A display that focuses on Democratic presidential candidate Sen. Barack Obama in the front of the Marc Rubin Gallery, 3318 N. Halsted, has generated controversy—which is contrary to the gallery owner's intention.
Rubin told Windy City Times that the 'Obama-rama' display 'is a joke.' Rubin actually has a connection to the family of the other chief Democratic presidential candidate, Sen. Hillary Clinton. His 'Sunrise on the Shore,' a painting currently inside the gallery, was loaned to the White House for four years when Bill Clinton was in office. ' [ 'Sunrise' ] was a master work that took me a year to make,' Rubin said.
However, the 'Obama-rama' display has outraged some, including activist Tim Stewart-Winter, who sent an e-mail to, among others, Rubin and Windy City Times that read, in part, ' Walking past your gallery yesterday evening, I was deeply disturbed by the digitally altered images in your window depicting Barack Obama standing with Osama bin Ladin in various poses. The accompanying text—including the caption suggesting Obama has "friends in all the right places," the mocking reference to "Chicago's favorite candidate," and the big letters advertising a "jihad on prices" for poster prints, and the Obama campaign signs being carried by Arabs with rifles—seem to indicate that the association of Sen. Obama with Islamist terrorism is meant in a spirit of malice and hate rather than some misguided effort at satire. Given the outrageous and persistent rumors about Obama that continue to be spread, I cannot see how this can be justified in the name of 'art.''
Rubin said, 'In the spirit of exposure of discussion and freedom of speech—in a neighborhood [ that ] is not discussing anything—I thought it would be fun to put some jokes up,' adding that most people 'get hysterical [ laughing ] ' over the work.
'In the spirit of just being a free-thinking American I just think it's fun to make a joke, take the steam off of the subject and then open it up for discussion,' Rubin said. 'But [ Stewart-Winter ] is so angry he called me everything, and I'm sorry he can't breathe after 9/11 [ but ] my childhood friend lived one block as the crow flies [ from Ground Zero ] . I lost dear friends, so it touches me deeply.'
And Rubin is no stranger to receiving a wide range of feedback. Referring to another work entitled Atrocity 911 that he debuted in late January and that is currently displayed in his gallery, Rubin said, 'People looked at the 9/11 painting and said, 'You shouldn't paint this.' 'How dare you!' [ and ] 'You know we did it.''
Referring to Stewart-Winter's e-mail, Rubin said, 'That letter said that I have no right to say something. ... He has a right to react to it, and I have a right to react to [ Stewart-Winter's response ] .'
'We hit material from both sides of political issues, because I'm always looking for something satirical for the interns to work on,' he said, saying that he plans to display similar works to 'Obama-rama.' On March 15, he made good on his promise, adding a piece that deals with the recent Rev. Jeremiah Wright controversy. ( Wright, cited as Obama's spiritual advisor, has been seen on videotape blaming the United States for introducing AIDS into the Black community and accusing the country of spreading terrorism. Obama has distanced himself from the remarks. ) Then, on March 17, the gallery added a piece featuring Sen. Hillary Clinton with biscottis for Obama with the word 'loser' on them.
