FLOTUS graced Manhattan’s New Museum with her presence earlier today, promoting her “Drink Up” campaign with WAT-AHH. Shepard Fairey, Swoon, Kenny Scharf, and others created paintings and murals for this initiative telling kids to drink more water and designed some water bottle labels. Numerous press outlets reported that this was a “street-art inspired exhibit,” but it’s a pop-up event for the press, awkwardly named “Taking Back the Streets” and isn’t very… “street.”
“It is not a New Museum exhibit nor is it in any way related to the event,” the New Museum’s press office emphasized on the phone to ANIMAL. “There is no physical presence. They set it up for the press event and broke it down and will set it up for the party tonight. We are honored and excited to host it.”
The artwork that Michelle Obama signed is perhaps one of the least controversial pieces of media ever made. It is a blue mural by pop artist Trey Speegle. It says “Drink Up” in big letters. Like most of Trey Speegle’s work, it is vaguely Ed Ruscha minus meaning and very, very safe. But if you have Lou Dobbs screaming “COMMUNIST!” at you for trying to get kids to eat healthy, you have to be very, very careful. And safe.
But wait! It says here that Speegle works for RuPaul’s media company World of Wonder. And Trey Speegle sources his world’s largest collection of vintage paint by number paintings as “raw material.” He’s an appropriation artist. And what’s this thing with Jesus in it? Ah-ha! FLOTUS just signed something pro-redistribution of something and possibly gay and un-Christian in front of school kids. Alert Fox News! (Image: @MattKozarABC7, @treynyc)
