Did You Know...

Guess what’s passing for “art” at the National Black Fine Art Show in New York City? This:

Morry Alter reports for WCBS2 News (Hat tip: In the Bullpen):

Is that who we think it is in that picture?

Our interest in this story was sparked by an angry email sent to us here at WCBSTV.com. The writer wasn’t angry at us, but rather about what he’d seen at the current National Black Fine Art Show in the Puck Building. This is the 10th anniversary edition of the show which features galleries from across the country selling the works of America’s top African American painters, sculptors, and photographers.

But the writer had big problems with a painting by Harlem artist “Tafa”. It depicts an upside down Christ-like figure with a face strongly resembling Osama Bin Laden. The email read in part, “This is outrageous. This is an attack against my religion. How can an artist go so low? Most people are outraged, most Christians.”

On the phone with me, the artist declined to do an on-camera interview, telling me the work speaks for itself, but adding, the resemblance to Bin Laden was no accident…

…The painting is bordered with hand lettered expressions and names including “mujahadin,” “McCarthyism,” and “Amadou Diallo,” a man killed by New York City police in 1999.

The difference between Us and Them: No one’s proclaiming an International Day of Anger and issuing fatwahs over this odious piece of “art.” No one’s taking up arms, raiding the art museum, or kidnapping the artist. No one’s going to blow himself up in protest.

Yes, it’s insulting. Yes, it’s offensive.

But it’s a picture. Just a picture.

Just like these: