Censored Art

laurahansonart
Aug 19, 2020
4 min read

I have been on the internet since I was a child. AOL was our domain internet. I can hear the sounds now. Brrrrrrrr beeeeeeeeeeeeeep zzzzzzzrrrrrrr beep beeeeeeeeeep zzzzrrr beepbeepbeep and you’re online! But don’t try to pick up the landline phone because the connection will die. We didn’t get high speed internet until 2006.

This is the first year I have ever had anything I’ve posted be taken down, reported or flagged.

For some reason or another, I can’t post these to Facebook. I have speculations that whoever is controlling Mark Zuckerberg’s puppet strings is behind it. The thing that stumps me though is I can still have it on Instagram, which is owned by Facebook. (???)

Here is a compilation of my censored art with some backstory.

Fuck da Police

16x20” acrylic on canvas

This was painted in the middle of the Minneapolis riots after the third precinct was taken. I’m not going to wishy washy here, because this is my website and I pay to have it running every month, so godammit, I’m going to share my opinion. I think it is cruel and unjust of the police, paramilitary and whatever anonymous men in combat gear to be tear gassing peaceful protesters during a pandemic driven by respiratory disease. There are short- and long-term effects to being exposed to tear gas.

Protesters lost their eyes to rubber bullets, people went to the hospital, people got hurt, some people were killed. Let’s not forget that these protests were initiated after George Floyd was killed by a police officer. It was very telling they would rather assault a crowd of people than arrest four of their own. This fight is still going on in other parts of the country and world. George Floyd is not the only black person to be killed by police for no reason. The cops who killed Breonna Taylor are still not in prison. She was sleeping when they did a no-knock on her property and shot her to death in her bed. The people protesting simply want this violence to stop.

I didn’t feel bad when the third precinct burned down. It is a building and everyone who worked there got out safely. I don’t feel bad when cop cars get vandalized or trashed either because the cops are always driving around in the last model year sports car anyways. The point is, the police are overfunded. Their luxurious items that make their job easier will always be replaced, but maybe this time we shouldn’t rush into getting them the newest technology and reinvest it in the community.

My Guernica

16x20” acrylic on canvas

This is my most popular painting online thus far. I consider this a breakthrough piece. Art be like that sometimes and I would say I have 20 crappy paintings for every 1 good one I produce. I share them all online regardless of how “good” I think they are, because my viewers always surprise me and compliment me on the strangest stuff. About to scrap a painting? Don’t! Some random person from California loves it.

I don’t exactly remember when I started linking my Instagram and Facebook together, but the idea is all of the art I post on my Instagram should be able to be posted onto here, laurahansonart.com and Facebook.com. Sometimes I get notifications saying my image had a hard time uploading to Facebook, but never get a reason why. I believe I was able to repost this and reshare it manually on Facebook.

I have received random Instagram comments saying this painting is "disrespectful". People will find anything to poke at when it comes to the flag, and it actually is legal to display the flag this way in times of duress. The only thing disrespectful is killing unarmed black men for no reason.

This painting is also entered in the 2020 Minnesota State Fair, which you can read about and buy tickets or you can buy prints and stickers of it from my shop.

The Problem We All Live With, part 2

16x20” acrylic on canvas

This is my reinterpretation of Norman Rockwell’s “The Problem We All Live With”, except this time the shoe is on the other foot. It’s no longer just about little children making it safely to school, it’s about the president being the most protected individual even though he contributes nothing of substance and just enjoys seeing the American public get riled up.

This is the only painting I can see why it was taken off of Facebook, but I included the cuss words in the same spirit that Norman Rockwell included racial slurs (not completely spelled out) over the image of the little girl. Personally, I think the Orange One in his entirety is more offensive that the F word scribbled across the concrete.

I was able to reupload this painting after doctoring it a bit. I’m not happy about it because once again I’m being asked to censor myself for someone’s comfort (I don’t know who). I didn’t paint it just to display it to people censored. I painted it to make a point, but I guess the world ain’t ready for that harsh truth yet.

Now here is the big mind fuck.

Last night I painted this diptych as a joke. I’m not happy about the ballot. I don’t think either of the people on it represent the evolving values of the American people. The Orange One is… just outrageous, Uncle Joe is still a baby boomer with baby boomer values so he doesn’t represent me and Kamala Harris is a sad excuse for having a POC on the ballot. Kind of crazy how everyone went from wanting to defund the police and release all the prisoners to wanting to elect a career prosecutor. But it’s a big moment for all women, right?!?!

Anyways, my painting of Uncle Joe was taken down, but the one of the Orange One stays up. Is this the Zucc’s way of telling me he was a part of Epstein’s child sex trafficking ring this whole time? What does he know?