U.S. Embassy Removes ‘Woke’ Painting by Artist Behind Barack Obama Portrait

Former President Barack Obama shakes hands with his portrait's artist, Kehinde Wiley, after its unveiling at the Smithsonian's National Portrait Gallery in Washington, D.C., on Feb.

12, 2018. —Saul Loeb—AFP/Getty Images The Trump Administration has removed a painting by artist Kehinde Wiley , who notably painted former President Barack Obama’s official portrait , from one of its embassies over what officials called its “woke ideologies.” The painting was removed from the U.S.

Embassy in Santo Domingo, Dominican Republic, earlier this month on ideological grounds.

Commissioned by the State Department in 2013, the painting, “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” depicts four Dominican models against a floral backdrop in Wiley’s quintessential style.

The U.S. ambassador to the Dominican Republic Leah Campos posted a video of the painting’s removal on social media to the tune of heavy metal song “We’re Not Gonna Take It.” The video shows the painting covered in a tarp emblazoned with the American flag prior to its removal.

“In the Trump Administration and under my leadership we are turning away from globalist and woke ideologies and instead embracing American patriotism and the beauty of our great country!” Campos wrote.

The State Department is looking into whether it can legally sell the painting, which was paid for with taxpayer dollars, a spokesperson for the department told The New York Times on Monday.

TIME has reached out to Wiley for comment.

Renowned artist Wiley is known for his large-scale portraits of Black subjects, whom he depicts in the style of classical European portraiture, often placing them against vibrant floral backgrounds.

Art critics have described Wiley’s work as challenging traditional ideas of race and representation.

He has described his own work as centering on “power and who has it.” His presidential portrait of Obama was unveiled in 2018 and hangs in the Smithsonian’s National Portrait Gallery .

For “Young Artists After Siamesas 1960,” Wiley collaborated with students from the Facultad de Artes and the Altos de Chavon School of Design, both prominent art schools in the Dominican Republic.

The subjects in the painting were modeled by four local art students.

The work drew inspiration from two Dominican art works, Celeste Woss y Gil’s 1940 painting “Desnudo Feminine” and Gilberto Hernández Ortega’s 1960 work “Siamesas.” The painting was part of the embassy’s permanent exhibition, assembled through the State Department’s Art in Embassies program .