You Are Invited To Play A Role in the Creation of Barack Obama's Presidential Portrait

Make Your Mark In History: You Are Invited To Play A Role in the Creation of Barack Obama's Presidential Portrait

From Ken Kragen, who brought America "We Are The World" and "Hands Across America," in partnership with Rock The Vote, JoinTheDot presents "What's Your Message to the Next President," which invites millions of people to get a dot in Barack Obama's Presidential Portrait and attach a message to their dot. The portrait is made from millions of tiny dots - one of them could be yours.

Washington, DC-MD-VA-WV (1888PressRelease) November 12, 2008 - The traditional Presidential Portrait is evolving. It’s now interactive! Now that the election is behind us and we have a president-elect, the “JoinTheDot™: What’s Your Message to the Next President?” campaign enters a new phase – the making of Barack Obama’s Presidential Portrait.

This portrait is well on its way to becoming a modern-day national treasure, where millions of Americans can literally become part of the president’s face!

JoinTheDot™: What's Your Message to the Next President? is an innovative and interactive way to become part of an instantly famous art piece and join a cause that gives The People a greater voice to be heard by the President himself, as well as each other.

Celebrity artist David Ilan has created a new way for people’s unique messages to come together and form a one-of-a-kind masterpiece. His JoinTheDot™ Presidential Portrait is being created through the unique method of art know as pointillism, where millions of hand-drawn tiny dots join together to form one larger image. Each dot represents a person and their message.

Every individual’s dot in the drawing can be seen clearly up close, yet from farther away, you see “the big picture” – a picture created from the hopes and dreams of the people who literally make up the portrait. What’s Your Message to the Next President?, in partnership with Rock the Vote, sponsored by American Airlines, and in collaboration with legendary social good organizer Ken Kragen ("We Are The World" and "Hands Across America" ), is inviting people everywhere to make their mark in the enduring portrait of the 44th President, a man who embodies the American dream. These messages will not only communicate to the next president, but also speak to generations to come.

Each participant who signs up at www.JoinTheDot.com (now through Inauguration Day) is given the number of their free dot, which can be used to access and share their text, video or audio message. The progress of the portrait can be viewed daily as each new participant contributes to its completion (a dot is not drawn by the artist on the canvas until someone signs up for it).

“Getting a dot and attaching a personal message to it gives everyone a chance to share the voice behind the vote, regardless of who they supported during the election,” said JoinTheDot’s Obama Portrait artist, David Ilan. “Our goal is to unite the country by bringing people together in the creation of a work of art, and keep them engaged by making it easy to speak up and be heard. Like the American people, all dots are equal.”

The messages that are pouring in have been personal, compelling, enlightening, significant, inspiring and impactful. Dots from celebrities are placed side-by-side in the drawing with dots from everyday people. Some of the messages are just one sentence (“Thank you for being a hero to my son when he needed one.”), while others are much lengthier and involved, yet all of the dots are points with purpose that plug into the spirit of democracy and touch a chord that needs to be heard. They speak in unison to inspire and help guide the next president.

Point by point, this living work of art will be built by people who care about making our country a better place – starting with a Presidential Portrait that actually speaks to the President!

JoinTheDot™: What's Your Message to the Next President? is not about politics. It is about the power of the people! This is a celebration of democracy, an inviting platform to give every American and others around the world an equal voice, and a positive way to keep people connected to President-elect Obama.

David Ilan will be making special appearances in select locations around the country with the actual portrait, so people can “join the dot” live, give their message and witness their dot being placed. When the portrait is completed, it will be the centerpiece of an extraordinary exhibit that will go on tour across America following the January 20, 2009 Inauguration of President Obama.

For press inquiries, partnerships, or for more information on JoinTheDot™: What’s Your Message to the Next President, please contact Co-founder and Executive Producer Jerry Biederman at (818) 379-3368 or e-mail Jerry ( @ ) JoinTheDot dot com.

From Barack Obama's official website:

“I wanted to make an art piece of Barack Obama because I thought an iconic portrait of him could symbolize and amplify the importance of his mission. I believe Obama will guide this country to a future where everyone can thrive and I should support him vigorously for the sake of my two young daughters. I have made art opposing the Iraq war for several years, and making art of Obama, who opposed the war from the start, is like making art for peace. I know I have an audience of young art fans and I’m delighted if I can encourage them to see the merits of Barack Obama.”

-Shepard Fairey
http://store.barackobama.com/Artists_for_Obama_s/1018.htm

See? It's all about "peace, love, togetherness" and "change".

Here are some of Fairey's other masterpieces. No joke. Most of his works are along these same lines (anti-American, pro-communist propaganda). Check the link.

Source: The Jonathan Levine Gallery:
http://jonathanlevinegallery.com/?method=Artist.ArtistDetail&ArtistID=F65EBB86-3048-28EB-92D55AA4FC996E31&GalleryID=82C33C59-3048-28EB-92DB386C8C733405

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From Shepard Fairey's official website (ObeyGiant.com):

Check it out! I got a thank you note from Barack Obama. If he is elected, maybe I have a get out of jail free card. All kidding aside, I’m honored to be acknowledged by someone so important to the future of our country. Also, the Obama campaign asked me to do a poster illustration for sale on their site. It should be out next week on barackobama.com.-Shepard
http://obeygiant.com/post/check-it-out
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Here is the 'thank you' letter Barack Obama sent to Shepard Fairey:
"Dear Shepard, I would like to thank you for using your talent in support of my campaign. The political messages involved in your work have encouraged Americans to believe they can help change the status quo. Your images have a profound effect on people, whether seen in a gallery or on a stop sign. I am privileged to be a part of your artwork and proud to have your support. I wish you continued success and creativity.

Sincerely, Barack Obama.'"

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/05/16/AR2008051601017.html

Source for letter image: Fairey's own website (ObeyGiant.com):
http://obeygiant.com/post/check-it-out

If the image of the letter should 'vanish' from Fairey's website, try this link:
http://www.notcot.com/images/obama_letter-to-shepard-fairey.jpg

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Portrait of Angela Davis by Obama artist Shepard Fairey:

Angela Davis

Source: The Jonathan Levine Gallery (link given above)

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From David Horowitz's FrontPageMag.com/DiscoverTheNetworks.org:
PROFILE: ANGELA DAVIS

* Communist professor at the University of California’s Santa Cruz campus
* Recipient of the Lenin “Peace Prize” from the police state of East Germany in 1979
* Provided an arsenal of weapons to Black Panthers who used them to kill a Marin Country judge in a failed attempt to free Davis' imprisoned lover, Black Panther murderer George Jackson
* Icon of the campus Left and frequent guest speaker at anti-war rallies
* Leader of a movement to free all criminals who are minorities claiming that they are political prisoners of the racist United States
* “The only path of liberation for black people is that which leads toward complete and radical overthrow of the capitalist class.”

Angela Yvonne Davis is a tenured professor in the “History of Consciousness” program at the University of California - Santa Cruz. A former member of the Black Panther Party, she is currently a “University Professor,” one of only seven in the entire California University system, which entitles her to a six-figure salary and a research assistant. This income is supplemented by speaking fees ranging from $10,000 to $20,000 per appearance on college campuses, where she is an icon of radical faculty, administrators, and students. Davis has also taught at UCLA and the State University of New York at Stony Brook.

http://www.discoverthenetworks.org/individualProfile.asp?indid=1303

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"Check it out! I got a thank you note from Barack Obama. If he is elected, maybe I have a get out of jail free card"
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VIDEO: Obama icon artist, Shepard Fairey, discusses his numerous arrests in this May 2008 alternative media interview (2:32 min):
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ozeTXRa7_zo&feature=related

The only President who had NO connection to the American Experience.

Nothing in his heritage connected to the linking of tradition, respectability, and honesty that the United States has stood for in the world.

He truly has no concept of what we as a people are. He thinks everything is about equal outcome. A concept that never was and never will be.

He hates us for loving freedom and not desiring to be dependent on the state for our happiness. Does that mean that we are free from all restraint? No, only from unnecessary restraint.

He has no concept of honor and dignity. Only his petty ego, and the acquisition of power. But for whom?

He has never built anything. Only criticized those who do not want to do his bidding as being Unfair and Biggoted.

He despises the Dead White Guys who formed our government. And their document the Constitution of the United States. He talks about it being a living document, but if he had his way it would be a dying document.

I have marveled at James Madison’s discourse about the Greek and Roman republics, influenced by the thoughts of Titus Livius and Polybius. You say what possible relevance does that have to this advanced time.

Ironically in the information age there is a paradox. In the face of the most advanced systems of communication in the history of the world, we appear to be less well informed politically and economically than any period in our history. Is it because of the “noise” that surounds the intelligence in the data. Or is it simply that these things are taken “out of context” of our civilization.

We have a press (not a functioning free press as our founders envisioned) that practiced propaganda during the Presidential campaign. What price will they ultimately pay for their part in this?

“To market official truth, so at variance with reality. Or to engineer consent to policies that mock American values. Government must so thoroughly miss-inform the public as to poison the wellspring of Democracy” —Adair—

Several years ago I read how borders no longer are important and that we are in a Global Economy. But those economic transactions have value related to “context” that cannot be calculated in dollars and cents.

It is the very fabric of trust that we live in. Destroy that and we are finished. Our parts must connect as a people. If they do not we will desend into a conflict that may be the path to our end.

We have an Obligation to resist this with our very lives!

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