Donald Trump, brought to you by the letter T

Introducing Rakewell, Apollo’s wandering eye on the art world. Look out for regular posts taking a rakish perspective on art and museum stories.

For better or for worse, ‘Donaldism’ – the disparate artistic style inspired by US presidential candidate Donald Trump – appears to be becoming a dominant theme of our times. And not without some controversy.

In Staten Island, local artist and Trump supporter Scott LoBaido was shocked when a 12-foot high sculpture in the shape of the letter ’T’ he had created to honour the Donald was destroyed in a suspicious fire at the weekend. ‘I’m pretty disappointed,’ LoBaido was quoted as saying on the SI Live website. ‘I’ve been very provocative and controversial with my opinions and artwork, but this is just unfortunate that certain people can preach tolerance, yet it doesn’t work if it’s not what they believe in.’

But like the property mogul turned politician himself, LoBaido doesn’t give up so easily. He has now recreated the work – only now it’s bigger, at 16-foot high.

Alas, the graphic deployment of Trump’s initial hasn’t received such enthusiastic responses elsewhere. Indeed, when the Republican Party unveiled its campaign logo for next year’s election ticket last month, countless social media wags suggested that the resulting image was a little too graphic a deployment.

The Trump-Pence Ticket Reveals Its Logo https://t.co/IbbrJQaGeK #sustainability

— Sust Brand Insight (@sustbrands) August 9, 2016

Trump-Pence Logo Completely Scrubbed from Campaign Website https://t.co/yKo2IF67xZ | That’s OK, we all still have it pic.twitter.com/DJ5k1WzAxF

— Laura Cereta (@laura_cereta) July 24, 2016

.@4lisaguerrero the new Trump Pence logo but is similar to toilet paper. Just saying… pic.twitter.com/fmGg5BqhBb

— Angel Valdez (@GiJoeValdez) July 15, 2016

The design has since been, erm, withdrawn. Staten Island: you have been warned.

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