Rapper and Actor Donald Glover Has Officially Signed on as Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang’s Creative Consultant

The actor and rapper Donald Glover, a.k.a. Childish
Gambino, can now add a new title to his list of revolving roles:
creative consultant for the Andrew Yang campaign. The Democratic
presidential candidate announced yesterday that Glover is now
officially on board to design merchandise, including sweatshirts,
hats, and posters.

The news comes after Glover co-sponsored a recent
campaign event in downtown Los Angeles, where limited-edition
products he created, all signed by Yang, were available for
purchase, ranging in price from $25 to $1,000. Shoppers could
choose a blue hat emblazoned with “1K: Yang Gang 2020,” a reference
to Yang’s plan to provide $1,000 a month to every American adult,
or a poster portraying the candidate bedecked by the American flag
and surrounded by the phrase, “This is the simulation where we
win.”

In joining the Yang Gang, Glover counts himself among
the dozens of prominent artists and creatives who have assisted
with campaign imagery in the past. The most iconic is arguably
Shepard Fairey’s Hope graphic for Barack Obama in 2008, which,
per Artnet News’ Ben Davis, “created a color
palette and starry-eyed aesthetic that have become political
cliché.”

In 2016, Carrie Mae Weems supported Hillary Clinton with
her campaign project “The Power of Your Vote,” a four-minute video
which featured audio of Obama set to slow-motion footage of New
Yorkers on the streets of Jackson Heights, Queens. Other artists,
from Deborak Kass to Wendy White, Molly Smith, and Olek, also made
unofficial pro-Clinton work in the last election cycle.

It is more difficult to cite artists making work in
support of Donald Trump, with no big-name creatives currently
associated with his former or current re-election campaign. The
perhaps best-known pro-Trump artist is Andy Thomas of Carthage,
Missouri, who created the painting that depicts the president
socializing with former Republican presidents, including Abraham
Lincoln and Ronald Reagan. The work went viral last year when it
was spotted hanging in the White House during a segment on 60
Minutes. There’s also John McNaughton, who has painted bizarre
portraits of Trump cruising with Melania on a motorcycle, or
sitting on a park bench holding a fishing rod.

Though further details on Glover’s forthcoming work
with the presidential-hopeful remain mum, a press release from
Yang’s team stated: “The specialized merchandise embodies the core
policies and values of Andrew Yang’s Humanity First platform and
future collaborations are expected.” Perhaps Glover is fired up
enough about Yang’s campaign to create something as stirring as his
2018 “This is America” video—except this time he could tackle robot
automation, universal basic income, and the power of math.

The post Rapper and Actor Donald Glover Has Officially
Signed on as Presidential Candidate Andrew Yang’s Creative
Consultant appeared first on artnet News.