Goodbye to Woke Art at American Embassies Under New Leadership

The painting is coming down, and it’s about time someone had the guts to say what needed saying. A taxpayer-funded artwork by Kehinde Wiley, the same artist who painted Barack Obama’s official portrait, got pulled from the wall at the U.S. Embassy in the Dominican Republic this week. And honestly? Good riddance.

Erin Scavino, the State Department’s Director of Art in Embassies program, didn’t mince words. She called the piece “very woke” and “aesthetically terrifying.” That’s the kind of refreshing honesty we’ve been starved of for years. Ambassador Leah Campos went further, sharing video of the removal and celebrating what came next. A patriotic image now hangs where Wiley’s work once did.

“In the Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies and instead embracing American patriotism and the beauty of our great country,” Campos wrote. That’s not just rhetoric. That’s a mission statement, and it represents what millions of Americans have been demanding since November.

The painting in question, titled “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” might sound harmless enough. But context matters. And when you’re dealing with an artist whose portfolio includes paintings of Black women holding severed heads of white women, you’ve got to ask yourself what message we’re sending to the world when his work hangs in our embassies.

Wiley defended one such painting in 2023, describing his “Judith and Holofernes” piece as “a play on the ‘kill whitey’ thing.” Let that sink in. This isn’t some wild interpretation by conservative critics. Those are his words. The State Department’s statement Monday didn’t shy away from this reality, noting that “the work of an individual with such violent and racist words and depictions has no place in the America First State Department.”

You know what’s remarkable? The establishment press spent years fawning over Wiley when Obama selected him for that presidential portrait. They praised his vision, his artistry, his cultural significance. What they conveniently ignored was the full picture of who this man is and what his work represents. NewsBusters called him out back in 2018 as “the art world’s equivalent of Donald Trump severed-head comedienne Kathy Griffin.” That comparison stings because it’s accurate.

There’s also the small matter of Wiley outsourcing much of his painting work to China to cut costs, according to reports. Here’s a guy described as possibly the wealthiest painter of his generation, and he’s farming out the actual painting to Chinese workers. The irony is almost too perfect. We’re supposed to celebrate this as authentic American art representing our values abroad?

Sexual assault accusations have surfaced against Wiley too, though he’s denied them. The State Department referenced these allegations in their statement, adding another layer to the mounting reasons this artwork had no business representing America on foreign soil.

Now officials are working to figure out if they can legally sell the painting. The process might take time, but the principle is already established. American embassies should showcase American values, American beauty, American exceptionalism. Not the fever dreams of artists who mock those very concepts.

This isn’t about censorship or some culture war witch hunt. It’s about common sense. When you walk into an American embassy anywhere in the world, you should feel pride in what you see. Those buildings represent us. Every piece of art on those walls sends a message about who we are and what we stand for.

The Obama administration commissioned this work with taxpayer money. Your money. Mine. Money that could have supported American artists who actually celebrate this country instead of depicting racial violence as commentary. The whole episode represents everything wrong with the previous approach to cultural diplomacy. Globalist. Disconnected. Contemptuous of traditional American identity.

What’s happening now isn’t just about one painting in one embassy. It’s a signal that things have changed. The adults are back in charge, and they’re not interested in pretending that anti-American sentiment dressed up as art deserves our tax dollars or our wall space. That might make some people uncomfortable, but discomfort isn’t always bad. Sometimes it means you’re finally addressing problems everyone else wanted to ignore.