Who is the mystery poop and tiki torch artist?The Washington Post set out to find out who was behind two new eye-catching art installations in the city. We couldn’t quite do it.
https://www.washingtonpost.com/dc-md-va/2024/10/29/poop-sculpture-artist-tiki-torch-mystery-identity/
A new statue on the National Mall, featuring a bronze poop atop a desk with a nameplate belonging to Rep. Nancy Pelosi (D-Calif.), “honors” those who participated in the Jan. 6 riot. (Allison Robbert for The Washington Post)
The people who brought Washington mysterious art installations featuring a giant poop sculpture on a replica of Nancy Pelosi’s desk and a bronze-painted tiki torch in the past week have come forward to acknowledge their role.
Sort of.
A man called a Washington Post reporter Tuesday afternoon to say he and others were behind the installation of the desk on the National Mall that mocked the insurgents who stormed the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, and the placement of a tiki torch statue at Freedom Plaza that poked at followers of then-President Donald Trump who took part in the deadly Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville in 2017.
The caller had information that would have only been available to a person responsible for the two works, but he declined to give his name because he said he wanted to remain anonymous. And he said others were involved in the project but wouldn’t say how many. And he wouldn’t say where they were from, or if they were artists or activists. Or what message they hoped the statues conveyed.
He did acknowledge having oatmeal for breakfast.
It was a call cloaked in secrecy that was Watergate-reporting worthy — even if it was mostly prompted by poop.
What the friendly but cagey caller did divulge — from what he said was a burner phone — is that those responsible for the works wanted the focus to be on the art installations rather than themselves.
The tiki torch statue called “The Donald J. Trump Enduring Flame” on display in D.C. (Valerie Plesch for The Washington Post)“We are hoping they spark conversation about what we view are certain political issues that are relevant to voters and how they make their decision voting,” he said.
The Post agreed not to name him because of the critical importance of the role of defecation in political art.
Who they are, the caller said, was not important.
“When you see a real monument in Washington, D.C., you’re not thinking about ‘Who built this sculpture of MLK? Who built this sculpture of Lincoln?’ You’re thinking about the monument and what it says,” he said.
The Post, following its mandate to pursue the truth, launched a full-on discovery effort. The National Park Service, which issued the permit for placement of the two statues, said it didn’t know who installed the art. In a statement last week, the Park Service said it “does not consider the content of the message to be presented” when issuing permits.
The Park Service granted the permit request for both the desk and the tiki torch to Civic Crafted. Julia Jimenez-Pyzik, the person who requested the permit, did not reply to text or phone messages seeking comment. But sleuthing by The Post’s research team found an email address for Jimenez-Pyzik, and a Post reporter (that’s me, if you’re wondering) wrote to ask for more information.
Thirty minutes later, the mystery artist called The Post. Though there were many things he said he didn’t want to discuss, he wanted it known that Jimenez-Pyzik was not involved in the project other than as a contact for the permit application.
Learning more from him though proved difficult. Work on the projects took “more than a month, but less than three months,” he said, cryptically. And what is Civic Crafted? “Nothing,” he replied.
He was more expansive talking about the pleasure of reading about the reactions people have had to the installations.
“I think part of the beauty of releasing these into the wild anonymously is to allow people to interpret these how they see the world and how they want to see the world,” he said.
Not everyone, it seems, interprets them positively.
The mystery man called back late Tuesday afternoon to say he just learned the tiki torch had been snapped in two. “We’ll fix it,” he texted. “Unclear who or why.”
He didn’t seem particularly concerned.
Placing additional works is not out of the question, he told The Post. “Do you want us to call you if we do?”
Absolutely.
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