As is customary, the president of the United States is probably the most mentioned name in the political sphere everywhere around the world and Donald Trump is far from being the exception. He is well known for his wrathful and controversial tweets and general behaviour which have polarized not only large groups within the USA but everywhere across the globe. Apart from being the political figure he now is, he was also a businessman, and he was extremely effective at making his whole nation knowing how good and successful he was at it.
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Donald Trump participated in numerous reality TV shows, owned casinos, airlines and even featured in a McDonald’s television commercial. Along with his career, the 45th president of the USA has left his mark. He has left behind him ridiculous amounts of extravagant paraphernalia about his persona. From branded merchandise, posters, newspapers and magazines to Trump-branded stakes and his own, not very successful, vodka brand. These items have become a testimony of his curriculum as a successful businessman, celebrity and, once considered, sex-symbol: the true American dream achiever.
Andrés Serrano, the American contemporary artist of Cuban and Honduran descent, has been the man who has dedicated an awful lot of time and resources to collect a wide variety of objects from this cornucopia of Trump-related articles. "The Game: All Things Trump" is a huge collection of more than 1,000 objects that compose the exhibition. Serrano has spent over $200,000 in buying all these objects, starting from 2018. By browsing the internet, buying at eBay auctions or by reaching people through word of mouth. Serrano came up with the idea when he realized that for TV and news media it was all about Trump.
This exhibition is curated in a format which resembles that of a natural history museum: labels with almost scientific descriptions, aesthetics and general display give this exposition a very particular look. Through this archival visit, a story is told, Donald Trump and his name were constructed and sculptured to become a symbol, an identity with an unmistakable meaning which was successfully distributed and consumed by Americans.
Andrés Serrano is best known for his controversial “Pissed Christ” photography, in which he captured a crucifix submerged in his own urine. Despite claiming being raised as a roman-catholic, which he still mentions being a practitioner off, this particular photography launched him as a well-known contemporary artist. His piece became highly controversial and irritating to some groups, which eventually ended in taking damage beyond repair by Christian protesters when the piece travelled to Avignon, France. Andrés Serrano says, “I make art about very basic things [...]. Life, death, sex, religion, excrement … it’s only natural that it’s now Trump. I wanted to paint a portrait of Donald Trump using his own brushes [...] Ever since the ’80s, Donald Trump has been associating himself with a particular vision of American success [...] that paints him as all-American.” (Serrano quotes) The artist from New York has refused to state a political position on whether he agrees or not with Trump and his statements. However, the highly political discourse implicit in this exhibition is undeniable. It lays down proof of a hypermediatic personality which has had huge consequences not only in the commercial but political reality of the whole world.
Cover image: Andrés Serrano "The Game: All Things Trump"
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