Obama painting at Sacramento gallery defaced, will stay on display

A painting depicting President Obama was defaced at an art gallery in the Sacramento area last weekend, and the gallery owner has vowed to keep the painting on display.

The act of vandalism, which was reported by news station Fox40, occurred last week at The Brickhouse Gallery near the Oak Park section of the city. The painting of Obama, which sits on the roof of the building, was spray-painted with the words “No War” and the initials NWO, which apparently stand for New World Order, a conspiracy theory.

Obama’s face was also crossed out with red paint.

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Fox40 News reported that the gallery director will keep the painting on display. “We will not have it removed simply because someone chose to disagree with the view of President Obama,” director and curator Barbra Range told the news station. She said it would be impossible to remove the graffiti without damaging the underlying painting.

Range said she experienced a mix of range and incomprehension following the vandalism. At the same time, she also said doesn’t agree with the idea of going to war, in reference to the president’s strategy toward Syria.

The defacement isn’t the first time that an artistic likeness of Obama has been vandalized in public. In Houston, an outdoor mural of the president has been defaced at least twice. The most recent incident, in which paint was splashed over the image, resulted in the arrest of a 58-year-old man in February, according to reports.

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