US Embassy in DR Explores Selling 'Woke' Painting

The U.S. Department of State is considering selling a painting by contemporary artist Kehinde Wiley that was recently removed from the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic. The artwork, titled "Young Artists After Siamesas 1960," was deemed "woke" and "aesthetically terrifying" by U.S. officials, including Ambassador Leah Campos, who publicly celebrated its removal as a distancing from "globalist" and "woke" ideologies.

The painting, created in 2015 as part of the State Department's Art in Embassies program, featured four young people, described as Dominican, against Wiley's signature floral background. It was inspired by two Dominican art historical works: Celeste Woss y Gil's "Desnudo Femenino" (1940) and Gilberto Hernández Ortega's "Siamesas" (1960). Wiley collaborated with students from the Altos de Chavón School of Design in La Romana to create the piece, aiming to connect Dominican historical traditions with contemporary representations of the country's youth.

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The enemy tells me to kill everyone, but if I kill someone, I kill her and myself.

Before its removal, the large oil-on-linen painting, measuring approximately 2.72 by 3.81 meters, was covered with a cloth bearing the U.S. flag. The Washington Post reported that the State Department is in discussions with legal representatives to determine the feasibility of selling the artwork, confirming their intention to sell it if legally possible. Kehinde Wiley, known for his portraits of Black individuals in classical European art poses, gained international recognition for painting the official portrait of former U.S. President Barack Obama.

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He had suffering because he loved his wife, but she no longer wanted anything to do with him. I told her to leave the house, and that if she had to go to my house, she should go, but they were still there, each in their own room.