A Personal Message to Donald Trump from Street Artist Tabby

Landmark Street Art
Sep 5, 2018 · 4 min read

Towards the end of July, prolific Austrian street artist and all round good bloke TABBY found himself on the streets of Washington DC. Never one to miss an opportunity to share his unique message and sense of humour, Tabby, along with Ben Heslop, director and owner of Landmark Street art, a Uk based street art gallery, knew exactly which piece would be fitting for the nation’s capital.

Ben was in touch with local street art photographer Matt Higgins from “Streetartpoetryslam” who lent a helping hand in providing his knowledge of the city streets. It is great that the scene spreads so far said Ben “An artist called Mr Sly from the UK who we work with put us in touch with Matt and then he put us in touch…with a wall! That’s exactly how it should be!”

Matt Higgins says:

“It was a fortunate combination of mutual contacts and conversations that brought us together. I was pleased to play a role in the process and pleased to tour around sharing some insights about the DC street art scene from a photographer’s perspective”

TABBY, who has been painting out in the streets since 2013, recently completed a series of new outdoor pieces in Japan while launching a solo show of his original works in Osaka with Gallery Kawamatsu. Earlier street pieces this year have been found in Austria and the UK.

Tabby: Shave the whales Japan 2018

Not one to follow a trend but instead lead it head on, TABBY was the source of the first Trump street art to be found anywhere in the world. Designing 4 pieces at the end of 2015, he said

Tabby states “finally getting some work up in the USA had been on my to do list for quite a while …the moment I saw him riding down that escalator and announcing his plans to run for president, I knew something big was coming”.

Tabby Ronald McDonald Trump

An art release one month before the US elections entitled “The best reality is the perfect fake” was based around the idea that portraying a fake reality is becoming the new norm and seems to predict the “fake news” culture that soon followed.

Tabby Donald Trump Heels of Steel:

“As what’s real and what’s not, what’s fact and what’s made up becomes seemingly less important, the best sculpted reality seems to become more interesting” TABBY, October 2015.

Love Trumps All

The latest piece titled “The Lying King” (located on P street just over 1km from the Whitehouse) features Tabby’s signature blend of political and social commentary with a healthy dose of humour.

“Most work is there to make you think and or smile, either way the goal is to brighten a passerby’s day. With it being 1km from The White House, maybe even the president will stumble upon it!” TABBY.

Tabby The Lying King Washington 2018

As a final goodbye, TABBY brought it upon himself to bring the message a little closer. With Lying King protest signs in hand, as well a as wig and santa beard for cover, he marched right up to the gates of The White House.

“Everybody was very friendly and wanted pictures” says TABBY, “Even the secret service was polite. I was told to take a step back from the gates, but to stay as long as I pleased. It just goes to show that everybody can get along, maybe it’s just the President that seems to divide a nation!”

Landmark Street Art, who deal internationally in high end pieces from other world renowned street artists such as Banksy and Ben Eine, organised the trip.

“We were over in DC curating and installing a large collection for a private client but the artists we work with always love a chance to get paint on the streets”

“Tabby is one of the brightest talents on the world scene and being lucky enough to know some of the things he has in the pipe line the opportunity was just too good to miss so we had to take him along”

Watch out for more of Tabby’s street pieces, there are several planned in for the coming 6 months. Also sign up to our mailing list HERE to find out about some very exciting releases of Tabby’s work on Landmark Street Art later on in 2018.

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