Friday 14 March 2014

Art Collection of the Obama's circa 1996

Back in 1996 the New Yorker posted these interviews that included photos of the Obama's apartment.


Some people were a little confused about what the works of art surrounding them were. I thought it might be fun to actually look them up.
The first picture frame on the left contains two images of classical Thai dancers put together:
  1. 12" x 24" Thai Temple Rubbing - Black Musician Playing the Traditional Ranet Ek (Thai Xylophone)
  2. Thai Temple Rubbing - Black Classical Thai Dancer


The middle picture frame contains an image from Ramayana, an ancient story from the Cambodian culture. It's a rubbing from an actual stone carving. This is a scene just before the good guys get the upper hand. Important in any good story.

The final picture frame is hard to see but looks like more dancers or musicians like the first one.

The statue on the side is probably some African statue. What is very interesting is I heard some people say that it's a Voodoo-Santeria idol. Of course, Voodoo and Santeria are completely separate religious traditions and have nothing to do with each other.

Speaking of misinformation, I also saw it said that the picture frame in the middle showed the devil, which is clearly incorrect. And the one on the right was supposed to have Masonic symbols. And I certainly cannot see any. Besides, it clearly look Thai as I said above. Sadly, those who are likely to believe conspiracy theories just reposted such misinformation without even looking at the images which don't show what they say they do.

I could tell right away. The devil? Nope, didn't look like any Christian or Jewish type of art at all. That was the first clue. And I didn't see anything Masonic or New World Order in these pictures at all. Of course, the one on the right has a lot of glare. So they may be there. But they just as equally may contain some writing that says 'Shawn is always right.' You cannot prove it doesn't!

So, no Voodoo-Santeria idol. No images of the devil. And no Masonic symbols. What a let down. Instead, it's just a bunch of cultural reproductions from around the world, just as you would expect educated and wealthy people to own. (And did you see the prices? Some are not that much to buy.)

I found some useful information over at IBA and Cosmophobia when I did a little research on this image.

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