The identity of the artist who created Obama as the evil joker has been revealed. It's Firas Alkhateeb, an American of Palestinian descent, who doesn't necessarily even consider himself an artist. He's studying to be a history teacher, but was bored and decided to experiment with PhotoShop. He uploaded his creation to Flickr, and it took off like wildfire. Alkhateeb didn't want to come forth to say he did it at first, but decided to when people started thinking the picture was racist. He didn't mean it that way, and says he never intended to hurt anyone.
I don't understand. This is certainly not Art. It is also not freedom of expression because I can't understand what actually he tried to express with that (what are the good and bad qualities of the evil joker?) Poor guy, he was just bored. Instead of depicting Obama as an evil joker he could post here in DP, for example... p.s. If I was american I would definitely first have a chat with the guy before I let him teach my children history
It's the best kind of art. One picture caused a nationwide discussion and reaction. It made some people laugh, some people angry, but most everyone feel something. If you cannot understand it, that doesn't mean that it's not freedom of expression. Freedom of expression has to do with the right to peacefully express what you feel, whether it's with words or art without fear.
I do not agree. by saying "its not art", I actually meant: "in my eyes, this has no artistic value". If it was Jimmy Hendrix or Nelson Mandela instead of Obama behind the joker face, nobody would even know about it. I totally agree and take my words back.
Thanks for clarifying that. One interesting part of this has been that before the identity of the artist was known, the politically left painted him as a right wing racist. This all turned out kind of funny because that couldn't be further from the truth. From reading about Firas Alkhateeb, he was mortified when he read that, and sincerely never intended anything racial. He just wanted to make Obama a joker that day, but says he doesn't really dislike Obama, he just believes he's over-rated. I tend to place artistic value on this picture, even if only for the reactions, interest and discussions it has created.