A daily reckoning, a refusal of normalcy and a bulwark against forgetting: Richard Kraft’s epic visual and notational account of Trump’s four years in office
When Trump was inaugurated on January 20, 2017, New York–based artist Richard Kraft felt the necessity, like many others, of keeping a close watch on his presidency. Every day, Kraft scoured the news and Trump’s Twitter feed, assigning, like a referee in a soccer match, colored cards associated with transgressing rules and codes of conduct.
Published in an edition of 650 copies, this five-volume set presents over 10,000 cards for Trump’s words and actions. In soccer, yellow signifies a warning. Red is for those offenses for which a player should be dismissed. Soon after the inauguration, Kraft began adding more colors for other infractions.
When asked about COVID-19’s death toll by journalist Jonathan Swan, Trump replied, “It is what it is.” This project takes its title from that callous dismissal. A brute confrontation with the facts of Trump's presidency, it is also a durational work of art, marrying futility with vigilance, transforming toxicity into beauty.
