An electronic billboard at the entrance to New York City's Holland Tunnel to New Jersey, December 22, 2004 with an image of a painted portrait of U.S. President George W. Bush with a 'Censored in NY' banner over it is projected. Painted by artist Christopher Savido, the work 'Bush Monkeys,' painted using monkeys to form the image, was banished from an art show in New York last week amid charges of censorship and is now being projected on the billboard and auctioned on Ebay with part of the proceeds donated to the artist' 'Art for Armor' cause to help parents of U.S. soldiers wishing to supply their sons and daughters with body armor in Iraq. REUTERS/Mike Segar
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NEW YORK - A portrait of President Bush using
monkeys to form his image that was banished from a New York art
show last week amid charges of censorship was projected on a
giant billboard in Manhattan on Tuesday.
"Bush Monkeys," a small acrylic on canvas by Chris Savido,
created the stir last week at the Chelsea Market public space,
leading the market's managers to close down the 60-piece show.
Animal Magazine, a quarterly arts publication that had
organized the month-long show, said anonymous donors had paid
for the picture to be posted on a giant digital billboard over
the entrance to the Holland Tunnel, used by thousands of
commuters traveling between Manhattan and New Jersey.
The original picture will be auctioned on eBay, with part
of the proceeds donated to parents of U.S. soldiers wishing to
supply their sons and daughters with body armor in Iraq.
Secretary of Defense Donald Rumsfeld came under fire from
soldiers in Kuwait earlier this month who complained that they
had to use scrap metal to armor their vehicles.
"Many of my friends are over in Iraq," Savido said in a
statement.
The painting offers a likeness of Bush but the image is
made up of monkeys swimming in a marsh. It was originally
priced at $3,500 in the show's catalog.
Organizers expect more than 400,000 drivers to see the
billboard each day for the next month.
© Copyright 2004 Reuters Ltd
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