An artist’s pencil drawing of a nude Donald Trump has resulted in what appears to be an indefinite ban from Facebook. In mid-February, Illma Gore, a self-described “gender-fluid futurist,” uploaded her NSFW artwork to a private Facebook group, but soon received notice from the website that her account was temporarily suspended for violating community standards regarding nudity. Since then, Facebook has been periodically blocking her from accessing her profile, although the work still remains on the page. Gore has also received threats of lawsuit, allegedly from Trump’s own legal team.
“My last suspension (three days) stated that I could face being banned permanently for the image,” Gore told Hyperallergic. “Since then I have not been able to log on. I was suspended about six times consecutively before this point.”
While the drawing, which features Trump with what some may describe as a less-than-average-sized member, recalls the real estate mogul’s exchange with Marco Rubio about his manhood, Gore actually drew the work before the US began talking about small hands.
“The idea was to take a man who prides his image and reputation and confront him with it,” Gore said. “To evoke a reaction from people, good or bad. Because I do not believe your genitals define your gender, power, or status. Basically, you can be a massive prick despite what is in your pants.”
She has also tried twice to sell the original drawing on eBay, but the e-commerce company, too, repeatedly removed it, citing violations of their policy on “images of nudity and nude art.” The guidelines note that “frontal nudity is allowed in Art categories when the item is considered fine art, such as Michelangelo’s David, vintage pin-up art, Renaissance-style paintings, and nude cherubs.”
Gore, naturally, is frustrated by the entire situation and the seemingly arbitrary way websites react to different images.
“Who decides this hierarchy of ‘fine art?'” Gore said. “And why is this value judgement being placed on artworks for sale in an online market place or social media (you can find Michelangelo’s David pretty quickly on a Facebook search)? More importantly, why other than an attempt to try an censor the image, should eBay or Facebook ever prevent me or any other contemporary artist from selling or posting their work?”
Among those attempting to censor her include someone identifying as a member of Trump’s legal team, who called her and said that if she were to sell the original work or any prints she could “face charges of obscenity and right of publicity,” according to Gore. In response, she posted a hi-res version of the image on her website as a free download.
“It’s crazy, but no way am I backing down,” Gore said. “I’m going to put it up on eBay again today, and I am donating $100 to Bernie Sanders every time it’s taken down.”
Hyperallergic has reached out to Facebook but has not received a response.
