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You are here: Home / Open Threads / Excellent Links / Cheap Diversion: ‘Sculpture Experts Say Trump’s $34 Million Statue Garden Has Major Problems ‘

Cheap Diversion: ‘Sculpture Experts Say Trump’s $34 Million Statue Garden Has Major Problems ‘

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‘Completely Unworkable’: Sculpture Experts Say Trump’s $34 Million Statue Garden Has Major Problems – POLITICO
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— Time For Change (@timetofixit.bsky.social) May 31, 2025 at 7:30 PM

Entirely predictable & very much in character, Politico!

… It’s nothing if not ambitious. The plan is to unveil 250 life-sized statues in time for the nation’s 250th birthday next year on July 4. Having decimated large chunks of the federal arts bureaucracy, the administration has reoriented much of what’s left to the $34 million outdoor park project, a singular Trump goal since his first term.

“It’s going to be something very extraordinary,” Trump told a White House audience in February. “We’re going to produce some of the most beautiful works of art.” According to one of several executive orders on the idea, it’s all meant to “reflect the awesome splendor of our country’s timeless exceptionalism.”

Unfortunately, the schedule all but guarantees something less than awesome, splendid or timeless. And, quite possibly, something less than American, too: The fine print forbids “abstract or modernist” statues, and the biggest collection of artisans and fabricators working in Trump’s preferred old-school realist style turns out to be in China, not the U.S.

“You’d be flooding the capacity of artists in this country who do that kind of stuff, and the capacity of foundries,” said Dylan Farnum, who for years ran the Walla Walla Foundry, a fine-art powerhouse that is one of the best-regarded such facilities in America. “There are places where you can really whip some stuff off. They can do it in China.”

Many U.S. fine-art foundries are booked anywhere from six to 18 months in advance. There also aren’t many of them: The International Sculpture Center’s list numbers 69. Though technology has sped things up — these days, you can 3D-print a model before casting it — faster production often involves partnering with Chinese or other foreign facilities.

At best, such collaborations can lead to a usable statue at a good price. But if the work is slapdash and uninspired, the likeness can feel more like a cheap mannequin than a national monument…

Even without worrying about trans-Pacific shipping (and new tariffs), the timeline is tight. The feds have yet to assign statues to sculptors. The application deadline is July 1, just 368 days before America’s 250th. Applicants are supposed to pick 10 or 20 names from Trump’s list of historic heroes; the National Endowment for the Humanities will then let winners know who they’re supposed to sculpt. That won’t happen until late September, cutting it still closer. The delivery date is June 1, 2026.

It’s also not clear who will apply. Low opinions of Trump in the artistic community could dissuade some applicants. And while the commissions are $200,000 per statue, it seems less lavish when you consider the costs of casting and base material, which the administration says must be marble, granite, bronze, copper, or brass. (In 2022, Arkansas dedicated $750,000 to create bronze statues of singer Johnny Cash and civil rights hero Daisy Bates for the U.S. Capitol.)…

And then there’s the location of the garden: There isn’t one. The plan calls for a suitable space to be identified. That hasn’t happened yet, though the governor of South Dakota has offered a spot in the Black Hills near Mount Rushmore. Assuming the space works, it will still have to be acquired, cleared, and prepared for a vast collection of statues and (they hope) an even more vast collection of visitors.

The shadow of Rushmore would surely suit the politics of the project. First announced amid the protests of 2020, the garden was a neat bit of ideological positioning: Where the left wanted to tear down statues, Trump said, he was celebrating America without apology. His executive order featured a long list of subjects including Patrick Henry, Sojourner Truth, Mark Twain, Eleanor Roosevelt, Muhammad Ali, William Rehnquist, Whitney Houston and Steve Jobs.

Inevitably, the controversial roster of statue subjects has gotten lots of attention. Trump’s list includes a few figures whose records on race made them targets, like Christopher Columbus, Andrew Jackson and John James Audubon. Others sniff that its array of conservative intellectuals (Russell Kirk, Milton Friedman, William F. Buckley Jr., Jeane Kirkpatrick) is more robust than its collection of left-leaning thinkers. And there are also some downright strange choices, such as the Canadian-born Jeopardy host Alex Trebek…

It’s a classic artistic divide for a populist age: Should a project aim for mass appeal, a spot for Instagram selfies and zany poses? Or should it — as conservative cultural critics have long insisted — seek to be a lasting masterwork of civilization?

Trump’s entire career gives a pretty good indication of what his administration’s answer would be, no matter how eloquently they may talk about creating a testament to American greatness.

“It’s a circus mentality, and he’s a showman,” said Ken Lum, a sculptor and University of Pennsylvania professor who has created major public monuments in the naturalist style. Lum says he’s not optimistic about the garden’s political impact, but thinks it could actually be popular if the administration manages to get it done — like a roadside attraction, if not a monument for the ages. “For a lot of people going to Mount Rushmore, there will be public bathrooms and concession stands and souvenirs, and you could have your picture taken with Babe Ruth or MLK or whoever.”

The whole circus would make a potentially viral TV ‘reality’ show, I guess — which is no doubt what Trump really envisioned. A global spotlight for those humble artisans currently sculpting devotional images of Trump Triumphant with chainsaws and polystyrene for CPAC and the RNC!

But, if my brief search is any indication, Ken Lum could probably come up with a truly appropriate Trump memorial. If you check out The Retired Plough Horse and the Last Pulled Log… I’m sure Mr. Lum could create an equally monumental figure highlighting the other end of the beast.

Reader Interactions

69Comments

  2. 2.

    Steve LaBonne

    Jesus. Besides the really serious things, every day there’s some vulgar horseshit. 🤮

  3. 3.

    Butter Emails!

    Since when has Trump cared about things being cheap and tacky? Just slap some gold leaf on everything and he’ll be as happy as when Ivanka is sitting on his lap.

  5. 5.

    Sister Golden Bear

    In today’s Cruelty to Trans People is the Point: Hegseth: Misgender Trans Troops During Expulsions

    Transgender military service members must come forward and voluntarily leave active-duty service next week, by June 6, according to Defense Department guidance issued by Secretary Pete Hegseth. After that, the military is expected to begin involuntary separations for active-duty trans service members who remain…

    Although Hegseth had made formal assurances in a February memo that transgender service members would be treated with dignity, the Army’s new internal directives to units instruct personnel to intentionally address transgender troops — even superior officers — in accordance with an individual’s medical assignment at birth rather than by their preferred pronoun.

    As you may remember, Hegseth also directed the military to misgender trans service members in all of their military records. Aside from seeking to humiliate trans service members, it’s forcibly outing them as well — which will make them targets of all the other legalized anti-trans discrimination being implemented outside the military.

  6. 6.

    patrick II

    Does this mean that taking down all of those mighty Confederate soldiers on horseback was in vain?

  7. 7.

    Jackie

    @Steve LaBonne: My thoughts exactly. I soooo hope something happens to prevent this from actually happening… I want to stop being embarrassed at what’s going on with our country.

  10. 10.

    Another Scott

    It sounds like it is the usual 47 boondoggle.

    Made me look. Lei Yixin:

    Lei won top prizes in national competitions three consecutive years, and was recognized as a master sculptor, which came with a lifetime stipend from the Chinese government. He has sculpted some 150 public monuments, including statues of Mao Zedong. Some of his works are in China’s National Art Gallery collection.[2] Lei came to the attention of the American public when he was named artist-of-record and commissioned to sculpt the centerpiece for the proposed monument to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr.[3] The announcement of Lei spurred an international protest spearheaded by Gilbert Young and Lea-Winfrey Young, co-founders of the organization “King Is Ours”, a multi-racial and multi-cultural organization formed to protest the decisions made by the King Memorial Project Foundation which included choosing Lei without due process. According to Agence France-Presse, it was only by chance that memorial organizers found Lei when they visited an international granite-carving festival in the American state of Minnesota.[4] Lei was “discovered” under a tree, taking a nap after he was pointed out to the King Memorial Project Foundation committee with the words, “you should talk to that guy over there,” pointing to Lei.[5]

    The 2.3 metres (7 ft 7 in) tall sculpture at the International Stone Sculpture Conference drew attention to his work,[6] yet Lei has revealed that the sculpture he created at the conference was the first he had ever carved on his own.[7] Ed Jackson, the executive architect at the MLK Foundation, was immediately impressed by Lei’s sculpture Contemplation[8] at the “Minnesota Rocks! Symposium” in June 2006,[9] and in 2007 Lei was named head sculptor for the Stone of Hope at the Martin Luther King Jr. Memorial.[10]

    In April 2008 the U.S. Commission of Fine Art rejected Lei’s design for the King Memorial Sculpture. In a letter dated 28 April, the commission wrote that Lei’s presentation was an inappropriate expression of Dr. King, declaring King too “confrontational” in Lei’s sculpture, and asking for a more “sympathetic” King.[11] Some changes were made to Lei’s design, and construction began. There were other controversies on the project which did not involve Lei, but were often connected to him, such as over the Chinese sourcing of granite for his sculpture and the choice of Chinese artisans who were employed to carve the stone, both of which were the decision of lead architect Ed Jackson. In addition, mistakes by the architects on the project forced Lei to make last-minute changes, such as replacing a pen in the hand of King with a scroll when a photo the architects had used as a model turned out to be reversed. Most controversially, the “drum major” quote by King was shortened for inclusion on Lei’s sculpture; this occurred when the team of architects wanted Lei to reverse the placement of two planned quotes, after he had already been instructed to carve out space for them, and having done as instructed there was then not enough space for the quote in a new position unless it was shortened. Jackson made the decision to cut the quote down to size. Later criticism by poet Maya Angelou, The Washington Post, and others caused a reassessment of that decision, and the entire quote was removed in August 2013.

    The completed work, a 30 feet (9.1 m) tall statue, was unveiled in August 2011 to mark the 48th anniversary of King’s “I Have a Dream” speech.[12] Due to Hurricane Irene, the official dedication was postponed until October 2011. Reviews of the finished sculpture were mixed. Some reviewers criticized the King statue on the basis of Lei’s earlier work making representations of Mao Zedong, of which they disapproved.[13] Other reviews focused on the way Lei depicted King. The stoic, unsmiling pose of King in Lei’s sculpture has been criticized by some since the initial rejection of Lei’s design, due to its perceived severe divergence from a popular media image of King as a unifying, hopeful leader and peace campaigner. However, other critics praised Lei’s more risky depiction. African Americans in particular noted the avoidance of mythology in the “confrontational” expression of King, suggesting Lei showed King facing the challenges of the present rather than dwelling in nostalgia.[14] Lei said, “you can see the hope, but his serious demeanor also indicated that he’s thinking.”[15]

    4+ years, and they were still fighting over modifications to it 2 years later.

    I haven’t been able to quickly find the cost of the statue (the whole memorial was ~ $120M).

    Unless 47’s statues are 3D printed tchotchkes, there’s no way they can do that many serious statues for that little money that quickly.

    FWIW.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  13. 13.

    Sister Golden Bear

    @patrick II:

    We’ll now have even more mighty roided-out Confederate soldiers riding velociraptors with freaking lasers! Place in every town square across the country, including such Southern heritage states as Alaska and Hawaii.

  14. 14.

    Snarki, child of Loki

    Oh, it’s not that hard to get all those statues done!

    Just dip Trump, JD, Musk, etc in bronze and set ’em up!

    Easy-peazy!  And lifelike! (sorta)

  15. 15.

    matt

    Kristi ‘Crazy Pills’ Noem accuses Harvard of being a Chinese Communist institution. She should take a field trip to Boston to see how close to maximum wrong she is.

  18. 18.

    JoyceH

    The frustrating thing about Trump (well, one of them) is that not only doesn’t he know SO many things, but he also can’t learn. Remember during his first term, he was all over NASA demanding a manned mission to Mars – and he wanted it to touch down ON MARS by Election Day! The folks at NASA explained to him over and over that if every single thing was ready and they launched that very day, they couldn’t get to Mars by Election Day, but they just couldn’t get him to understand it. He always thinks that people just aren’t trying hard enough when they’re up against the laws of physics.

  20. 20.

    WaterGirl

    @JoyceH: I’m fairly confident that Trump doesn’t understand that there even are immutable laws of physics.  Both ignorant and stupid.

  21. 21.

    NeenerNeener

    Is this because he can’t get everybody to agree to put him up on Mount Rushmore? Will there be at least one statue of him in this “garden”?

  23. 23.

    kindness

    Just wait till it comes out that all the statues in Trump’s new grotto will be 3D printed by AI.

  25. 25.

    Boris Rasputin (The Evil Twin)

    One author commenting on the “art” created in the Third Reich said fascism cannot create good or true art, so it goes big, overscale, tasteless, unbalanced and overpowering. Sounds like the Tangerine Ballsac himself.

  26. 26.

    KrackenJack

    China is missing an easy opportunity if it doesn’t slap a 1000% export duty on statues going to the US.

  28. 28.

    BigJimSlade

    I can just see a Spinal Tap Stonehenge situation where they get it done in time, but all the statues are 6 inches tall instead of 6 feet.

  32. 32.

    Harrison Wesley

    We already have Disneyland, and that wasn’t created with taxpayer money. Fuck this nonsense.

  33. 33.

    WaterGirl

    @PaulB:  So glad to see you here!

    We had all those great on the road trips from you and then nothing in what seems like forever.

    I have been worried about you.  :-)

  34. 34.

    Professor Bigfoot

    Conservatives have whined and complained about “muh hard-earnt tax dollers” for decades, but they’re all ready to roll over for THIS bullshit.

  36. 36.

    Harrison Wesley

    @Professor Bigfoot: And leave us not forget the most beautiful, BIGLIEST birthday celebration EVER on the 14th when all of us will be able to cheer on OUR FAVORITE PRESIDENT as he rides in his up armored golf cart leading a heavy equipment procession destroying the streets of our capital city.

  37. 37.

    Suzanne

    @matt: These people are obviously drowning in their feelings of resentment and inadequacy, and doing so in the most juvenile and destructive manner possible.

    Like, Donald, Kristi, Stephen….. why are you so worried about what Harvard thinks? They don’t want to hang out with you, either.

  38. 38.

    hells littlest angel

    Red state rural areas are full of chainsaw sculptors who’d be thrilled to actually make money grinding out the kind of crude, tacky junk that would delight right-wing sensibilities

  39. 39.

    Suzanne

    @NeenerNeener:

    Will there be at least one statue of him in this “garden”?

    There is this super-gross store about a mile away from my house that sells all manner of lawn statuary. They were selling concrete Trump statues in 2020.

    I absolutely cannot fathom being such trash. Or buying such trash.

    ETA: Imagining a weekly chore of scrubbing birdshit off my FFOTUS lawn ornament.

  40. 40.

    Marc

    @Harrison Wesley:  most beautiful, BIGLIEST birthday celebration EVER

    We’ve already received formal invitations to two overlapping neighborhood block parties on the 14th to celebrate his birthday the way only us Bay Area folks can.  Then we’ll head off to a parade in his honor :)

  41. 41.

    Dorothy A. Winsor

    I realize everyone here has probably already talked about this, but I just saw the clip of Joni Ernst walking through a cemetery, making fun of her constituent who was upset about people dying if medicare was cut. Holy crap. I wouldn’t have believed it was possible to make her town hall moment worse. I underestimated her.

  42. 42.

    lowtechcyclist

    @Suzanne:

    There is this super-gross store about a mile away from my house that sells all manner of lawn statuary. They were selling concrete Trump statues in 2020.

    Moneymaking opportunity: buy one, find a suitable outdoor location to set it up, and charge people $10 apiece to piss on it.  I bet one could recoup the price of the statue in an hour.

  43. 43.

    Princess

    I know three people whose research grants weee yanked to pay for this garden. I hope the next president bulldozes it and reduces the statues to rubble.

  44. 44.

    Jeffro

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: I saw that too.

    One BlueSky commenter noted that without trumpov’s blessed ‘brand’, perceived wealth, name recognition, and willingness to eagerly play the heel…other MAGA politicians just come across as ghouls when they try to copy his schtick.

  45. 45.

    Princess

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: Ernst is vile.

    I do sort of wonder how the sarcasm and meanness will play. If a male gop senator did that, it would be fine. I feel like some not huge but real portion of her voters won’t like it coming from a woman

  46. 46.

    MattF

    I guess the statues will be gold-plated— or, a la Terry Pratchett, ‘goldish’.

    ETA: And yes, autocorrect tried very hard to make that last word ‘goldfish’ but I finally prevailed.

  49. 49.

    Another Scott

    @Dorothy A. Winsor: @Jeffro:

    Yeah, she’s a piece of work, isn’t she??

    And lots of Iowans didn’t like her much even before the town hall thing.

    Newsweek (from May 23, her “we’re all going to die” was on May 30):

    Iowa Senator Joni Ernst, a Republican, trailed Democratic challenger Nathan Sage but held a lead against other potential Democratic candidates in a new poll of the 2026 Senate race.

    […]

    The Data for Progress poll asked Iowa voters who they would support in hypothetical 2026 matchups. It surveyed 779 likely voters from May 7 to May 12, 2025, with a margin of error of plus or minus four percentage points.

    Ernst led each challenger by five to six points in initial matchups, with 10 percent of respondents saying they were undecided, the pollster found. But when pollsters read biographies of Democratic candidates, Sage established a slight lead over Ernst.

    […]

    Only Sage has formally announced a Senate run so far.

    […]

    It’s great that he is slightly ahead, but the fact that he only pulled ahead when the people polled were told his background is yet another illustration that in politics, like life, 90% is showing up having people be willing to listen to what you have to say. Most people aren’t willing to listen to much political stuff outside their own tribe, and it’s a big problem when one tribe’s leaders are insane.

    Grr…

    tl;dr – We have to fight for every seat everywhere and not assume the future is already written.

    Forward!!

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  50. 50.

    Baud

    And there are also some downright strange choices, such as the Canadian-born Jeopardy host Alex Trebek…

    What is gauche, Alex?

  51. 51.

    Jackie

    How many days hours before this skumbag is pardoned? Maybe not by FFOTUS, but by the Republican gov, to curry favor with President TACO.

    A jury convicted a former Republican political strategist on two counts of stalking after prosecutors charged Daniel Duffey with sending harassing text messages and letters to the victim and his family, the Montana Free Press reports.

    Duffey also created a fake Grindr account under the victim’s name and asked app users to attend the victim’s wedding to have sex with him.

    The link is free and it’s a sickening read.

  52. 52.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @Suzanne: this whole statue thing is for the birds.

    need to line the state garden and the parade pathway w bird seed so lots of birds come and do their things. Lends a different meaning to “rain on their parade”.

    yesterday someone proposed that a nice tornado would be handy.

    while I’m on fiction and fantasy, here’s a nice fake news headline for us: Giant Statue Collapses, Concrete Head Falls on VIP in Gardens

    oh dear. I just want my money back; I did not approve these expenditures on parades and statues. Let us have our Snap and Medicaid, and our Leap.

  57. 57.

    eclare

    @Dorothy A. Winsor:

    Her mention of the Tooth Fairy was incredibly insulting to concerns of real life people.  You know, her constituents.  Shorter Ernst: fuck off and die already.

  58. 58.

    Another Scott

    @eclare:

    Archchicago.org/popeleoxiv:

    The celebration will feature a video message from Pope Leo XIV to the young people of the world, which will be broadcast first from our event, there will also be celebration prayer music.

    Downloadable flyer (PDF)

    HTH a little.

    Best wishes,
    Scott.

  59. 59.

    eclare

    @Another Scott:

    The flyer doesn’t say if it will be streamed.  I really need some counter-programming

    All I can find on the internet is that it will be streamed eventually.

  61. 61.

    eclare

    @Another Scott:

    The protest in Memphis is set for a really busy street corner, and with recent occurrences of people driving cars into crowds, I’m hesitant.

    We have plenty of parks, I don’t know why we can’t have one in a park.  Or outside the Lorraine Motel.

    Thanks though.

  62. 62.

    mrmoshpotato

    But, if my brief search is any indication, Ken Lum could probably come up with a truly appropriate Trump memorial. If you check out The Retired Plough Horse and the Last Pulled Log… I’m sure Mr. Lum could create an equally monumental figure highlighting the other end of the beast.

    It would be too nice to the orange shitstain who sucks dictator ass.

  64. 64.

    Gloria DryGarden

    250 statues seems a really huge vanity project. I don’t mind a statue of sojourner truth. But I don’t need a statue of Steve Jobs, I have an iPad in my hand. Having functioning devices in the hands of many, is a big enough monument.

    let him buy statues out of his personal funds, for his presidential library..later. After he’s an ex.

  65. 65.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @WaterGirl: he breaks laws in the USA legal system all the time, gets away with it, weasels out of paying the fines,

    so why should laws of physics be any different? Isn’t he the exception to all the laws?  Of course he should be granted the chance to overcome te jaws of physics. Oh dear, typo, the laws of physics.

    the laws of karma, too.
    ///

    fake headline: Don T defies laws of physics, and ascends int9 the stratosphere since gravity can no longer hold him.

    sorry, not sorry

    ETA sorry weasels, no insult intended toward you.

  66. 66.

    Gloria DryGarden

    @eclare: I read that it will be the same day, streaming live, speaking to youth, at wrigley field..

    a whole stadium of young people watching pope Leo on zoom on the big s teens, I imagine.

  69. 69.

    H-Bob

    Trump’s sculpture garden would be the first phase of an American version of Momento Park in Budapest, which is an open-air museum dedicated to monumental statues and sculpted plaques from Hungary’s Communist period (1949–1989). Let Trump assemble the inventory, and the park can be retconned when he’s no longer President

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