I think the Duchamp comparison is inaccurate and too flattering. And as for your other arguments, I’m glad you commented, because you’re 100% right on both counts. I guess the point is to implicate the viewer, but I don’t think it’ll always accomplish that goal. The line between criticizing by appropriating/implicating, and doing the same damn thing, is so fine, and I think this one fails to walk it too well. And as for Hillary, I would’ve added that but I got sleepy…

I see enormous value in shrinking the critical distance between the artist and the hate-art he is mocking. The press release makes clear that the artist wants to implicate the viewer as involved in the figurative assassination. Stripping away – in some cases – the critical overlay places the viewer off-balance. He must decide which images offend him, how the irony works, and what goes too far. And he will more than likely be surprised at his own reactions.

I caught myself chuckling at one of the images, felt bad about it, and then thought “that’s exactly what the artist wanted me to do.” It’s more powerful to force the viewer to confront how willing he is to participate in character assassination than it is simply to document and chide those who do it as barbaric third parties bearing no resemblance to us. The viewer engages in a more meaningful self-reflection in this case than he would have if the critical overlay were always allowed to overwhelm the subject matter.

Also, what about the fact that there is a corresponding Hillary exhibit? You don’t criticize it at all, but it’s quite similar and I think even more powerful because she’s spent so much more time being criticized than Obama has. The fact that there are two exhibits lessens the idea (hinted at, but never stated) in your argument that the artist’s failure to criticize anti-Obama art stems from his desire to use the exhibit to defame Obama. Further, your failure to criticize the artist for doing the exact same thing to Hillary undercuts your admittedly “morality-based” critique. If it’s morally wrong to do this to Obama, I fail to see why it’s not also wrong to do this to Hillary, even though you don’t favor her as a candidate.

Finally, do you mean that the Duchamp comparison is inaccurate or that it is too flattering to the artist?