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Controversy haunts Hunter Biden

2021-07-25T04:09:32.507Z


The son of the president of the United States begins in the world of art and the high prices of his work raise suspicions


He is a totally unknown artist except for his last name and he has just burst into the art world, of course unleashing the controversy that has accompanied him for years and that, in this case, also splashes the White House. At 51, Hunter Biden has decided that painting is his true calling. The career lawyer, former lobbyist and youngest son of the president of the United States, Joe Biden, has now decided to dedicate his career "to the creative arts, contributing with a myriad of experiences that are materialized in impressive works of art", it reads in the author's profile on the website of the gallery that will sell their work. The information offered on his creations highlights their variety, since it ranges from "photographs to mixed techniques of abstract works on canvas, yupo paper, wood and metal."

Along with a black and white photo of the creator, in the text of the New York gallery George Bergès concludes: “He uses oil, acrylic, ink and the written word to create unique experiences that have become his signature”. And therein lies the controversy, in his signature. For the moment, the White House has been forced to shield itself and announce an agreement by which it will be confidential, even for the creator, who acquires his paintings, in an attempt - not very successful - to circumvent ethical problems that may arise from the beginning. The same moment that a member of the presidential family brings to the market a product whose value is totally subjective.

Biden's paintings have been valued between $ 75,000 and half a million by the gallery owner Bergès, although the dealer agreed to reject any offer that seems suspicious or to raise the price considerably.

For example, a foreign government could acquire through someone a work of the artist or a lobbyist buy it with the ultimate aim of winning the benevolence of the White House.

For some ethicists, cited by the US media, the best way to protect themselves against attempts to win the favor of the White House would have been transparency and not the secrecy imposed by the Biden Administration agreement.

We spoke to Hunter Biden about his new life as a full-time artist, and his personal quest for 'universal truth' through painting: https://t.co/3FvBxKkfDL pic.twitter.com/eSnX2OCIZs

- Artnet (@artnet) June 14, 2021

"All transactions that have to do with the sale and award of prices will be carried out by professional gallery owners, who will be governed by the highest standards in the industry," Jen Psaki, spokesperson for the president, informed in a recent press conference.

"The gallery owner will not share buyer information, including their identities, with Hunter Biden or the White House."

The Bidens have embraced the maxim of "no comment" when asked about the sudden stardom enjoyed by the president's youngest son, although it is known that the first lady, Jill Biden, has paintings of Hunter on the walls of her office in the White House.

This is not the first time in presidential history that the career aspirations of a son or member of America's first family have given current White House advisers headaches.

President Harry Truman's (1945-1953) daughter Margaret was aspiring to the art of singing when a critic tore her performance to pieces.

The chronicle had its echo.

The politician, who assumed power after the death of Franklin D. Roosevelt, warned the journalist that if he was ever found he would need "a new nose."

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It's not the first time Hunter Biden has been in the spotlight. A four-year crack addict, a regular user of vodka and cocaine, the president's youngest son has been to rehab centers about seven times. In his memoirs, published last April under the title

Beautiful Things,

the lawyer, who assures that since he was seven years old he already made sketches, leaves no room for ambiguity in his book.

“I am a 51-year-old father who helped raise three beautiful daughters,” says in the foreword, who today has a one-year-old son with South African Melissa Cohen.

"I bought crack on the streets of Washington and managed to make my own inside a cheap hotel room in Los Angeles," continues Biden.

"I had such a need for alcohol that I was unable to walk a street from the liquor store to my apartment without opening the bottle for a drink."

Impeachment material

The controversy has also affected his professional life. As a member of Burisma's board of directors, Ukraine's largest private oil and gas company earned $ 50,000 a month when his father was Barack Obama's number two. Former President Donald Trump's request for help from the Ukrainian government to investigate Hunter's role in that company ended up leading to the former president's first impeachment. His past and present are a burden that President Biden lives with every day, when Republicans also warn that if they regain power in 2024 they will investigate Hunter Biden. At the moment, the president's son is being investigated for errors in his tax return, although he alleges that he is innocent.

The question that is in the air is: would any other artist who exhibits his work for the first time in a gallery, would receive such an amount of money? Art History professors and critics assure the American media that it is obvious that Biden's works would never have reached those prices if he were not the son of the current president of the United States. Hunter Biden is a true stranger in the world, without any curriculum. artistic support, especially when the artist sells his work in that price range.

Interviewed last June by the Artnet News page, the president's son declared that he did not paint guided "by emotions or feelings, since they are ephemeral."

"For me painting is trying to bring to light the universal truth."

With such a declaration of intent, the editor immediately asked what exactly that truth was for him.

"It is the fact that everything is connected and that there is something that goes beyond our five senses and that connects us all."

Artnet News couldn't help but ask Biden in his interview what his father thought of his art.

“My father loves everything I do.

And we leave it there ”.

His paintings will be exhibited in Los Angeles in September, but can only be visited with a personalized invitation.

In October, the paintings will hang on the walls of the Georges Bergès Gallery in New York.

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Source: elparis

All news articles on 2021-07-25

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