Controversial Image of President Posted on Billboard in 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 Tuesday on a giant billboard in Manhattan.

“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 the 60-piece show.

Animal magazine, a quarterly arts publication that had organized the monthlong show, said anonymous donors had paid for the picture to be posted on a digital billboard over the Manhattan entrance to the Holland Tunnel for a month, where it was expected to be seen by about 400,000 drivers a day.

The original picture will be auctioned on EBay, with part of the proceeds donated to parents of U.S. soldiers who wish to supply their sons and daughters in Iraq with body armor.

This month, Secretary of Defense Donald H. Rumsfeld came under fire from soldiers in Kuwait who complained that they had to use scrap metal to shield their vehicles.

The painting’s likeness of Bush is made up of monkeys swimming in a marsh. It was originally priced at $3,500 in the show’s catalog.