Drivers on Staten Island’s Hylan Boulevard this week have been greeted by a towering portrait of Ronald Reagan, musclebound like a non-bald Mr. Clean and wearing a t-shirt emblazoned with the phrase “Dear God, Let Me Go Back For Just A Day.”
The artist is Scott LoBaido — previously noted for terrible subway safety ideas and anti-Muslim protests at the “Ground Zero Mosque” — who explains the work thusly: “[Vladimir] Putin and Kim Jong-un would be wearing diapers if Reagan were here for just a day. Reagan, like all presidents, had some baggage, but he ended the Cold War without firing a single shot, and we were feared and respected.”
After its stay in Staten Island, LoBaido plans to move the artwork to other locations around the city, starting in Queens. He says his piece is an homage to the heyday of trickle-down economics and the crack epidemic. “Reagan created the patriotic beast in me over 20 years ago,” he told DNAinfo. “I want the viewer to remember the days when we were all proud and felt strong and free with little fear, knowing that our leader was there to lead.”
(Photo: DNAinfo)
