BOYNTON BEACH, Fla. — A proposed 12-foot statue in Boynton Beach has triggered controversy, mainly from supporters of Donald Trump.
“This woman that is doing art, she’s making a mockery of we the people and our position politically,” Cindy Falco DiCorrado, who attended a meeting Thursday night of the city’s Art Advisory Board, said.
The statue, created by 82-year-old Patti Warashina, is called “Harmony.” It is planned to go in a new plaza for the PBS TV station located along South Congress.
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It depicts a black-and-white figure over a globe and holding a musical note. But it’s the artist’s past that has some upset.
“She mocks people who are conservatives,” Falco DiCorrado said. “You can look at some of her artwork. She even did one vulgar of our past president, but still our president, President Trump, which I found quite offensive.”
However, the advisory board said politics is not part of their approval process for public art.
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“It primarily is the artist, a real artist, and is the work of art a real work of art,” Glenn Weiss, manager of public art in Boynton Beach, said.
In paperwork submitted to the board, Warashina has public art displayed in other cities and has a long career in creating art.
“Art has always been controversial,” Rolando Chang Barrero, owner of the Box Gallery in West Palm Beach, said. “This is more of the same in Florida, where there’s a concerted effort to just nullify everything that deals with sectors of the population.”
