Obama Joker artist unmasked: A fellow Chicagoan

 

When cryptic posters portraying President Obama as the Joker from "Batman" began popping up around Los Angeles and other cities, the question many asked was, Who is behind the image?

Was it an ultra-conservative grassroots group or a disgruntled street artist going against the grain?

Nope, it turns out, just a 20-year-old college student from Chicago.

Bored during his winter school break, Firas Alkhateeb, a senior history major at the University of Illinois, crafted the picture of Obama with the recognizable clown makeup using Adobe's Photoshop software.

Alkhateeb had been tinkering with the program to improve the looks of photos he had taken on his clunky Kodak camera. The Joker project was his grandest undertaking yet. Using a tutorial he'd found online about how to "Jokerize" portraits, he downloaded the October 23 Time Magazine cover of Obama and began digitally painting over it.

Four or five hours later, he happily had his product.

On Jan. 18, Alkhateeb uploaded the image to photo-sharing site Flickr (shown at right). Over the next two months, he amassed just a couple thousand hits, he said.

Then the counter exploded after a still-anonymous rogue famously found his image, digitally removed the references to Time Magazine, captioned the picture with the word "socialism" and hung printed copies around L.A., making headlines.

Alkhateeb's original Flickr page surpassed 20,000 views. The Times found his Flickr site last week thanks to a tip left by a loyal reader of The Ticket. By Friday, the page had been taken down.

On Alkhateeb's page, a manipulated image condemning fellow Chicagoan and White House Chief of Staff Rahm Emanuel (captioned "epic fail") was mixed in with parodies of the "Guitar Hero" game franchises -- dubbed Quran Hero -- and of Napoleon riding a motorcycle (pictured after the jump).

Flickr had removed the Joker image due to copyright-infringement concerns, Alkhateeb says the company told him in an e-mail. A Flickr spokeswoman declined to comment due to a company policy that bars discussing inquiries about individual users.

Alkhateeb says he wasn't actively trying to cover his tracks, but he did want to lay low. He initially had concerns about ...

... connecting his name with anything critical of the president -- especially living in Chicago, where people are "very, very liberal," he said.

"After Obama was elected, you had all of these people who basically saw him as the second coming of Christ," Alkhateeb said. "From my perspective, there wasn't much substance to him."

"I abstained from voting in November," he wrote in an e-mail. "Living in Illinois, my vote means close to nothing as there was no chance Obama would not win the state." If he had to choose a politician to support, Alkhateeb said, it would be Ohio Democratic Rep. Dennis Kucinich.

Possibly becoming a villain in his home city wasn't his only worry. Time's cover and the Joker obviously aren't Alkhateeb's copyrights to fool around with.

Concerned about a lawsuit, Alkhateeb, an unnamed superstar whose nationally recognized artwork had stunned friends and family, was relieved that the situation had floated for months without any major news organizations discovering that he was the man behind the paint.

After we contacted him, he hesitantly agreed to an interview.

If it's any consolation, the Electronic Frontier Foundation, a nonprofit organization that defends digital rights, says Alkhateeb has a strong fair-use defense if Time or DC Comics decides to take him to court -- that is if one even does file a lawsuit.

"You really want to think twice about going after a political commenter," said Corynne McSherry, a senior staff attorney at the EFF. In Time's case, "a news organization probably doesn't want to be in the situation of pursuing political criticism."

Perhaps the strongest case for anyone, McSherry said, is for Alkhateeb to claim money derived from people selling T-shirts with his picture. Is it worth pursuing? "It would be nice, but it's not that big of a deal," Alkhateeb said.

Although Alkhateeb claims he was making no political statement with the artwork, he's plugged into the Washington debate. Though born in the United States, his Palestinian family closely follows Middle Eastern politics.

"I think he's definitely doing better than Bush was," Alkhateeb said of Obama. Alkhateeb's views on foreign relations align with the Democrats, he said, while he prefers Republican ideals on domestic issues.

Alkhateeb's assessment of Obama: "In terms of domestic policy, I don't think he's really doing much good for the country right now," he said. "We don't have to 'hero worship' the guy."

Someday, Alkhateeb hopes to be a history teacher and high school football coach. He won't be pursuing a full-time career in art, but he'll continue playing with Photoshop on the side. He's honored by Shepard Fairey's assessment of his Joker picture, but disagrees with some of Fairey's comments criticizing the message of the Socialism poster.

"He made a picture of Bush as a vampire," Alkhateeb said about Fairey. "That's kind of speaking with two faces."

Regardless, Alkhateeb does agree with the Obama "Hope" artist about "socialism" being the wrong caption for the Joker image. "It really doesn't make any sense to me at all," he said. "To accuse him of being a socialist is really ... immature. First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"

-- Mark Milian

No joke, click here for Twitter alerts on each new Ticket item. Or follow us @latimestot or @mmilian

Photo credits: Firas Alkhateeb

Comments

[VW]

O-BOMB-A IS MORE RUTHLESS, DISHONEST AND CONNIVING THAN THE JOKER

THIS WAS ELEGANT COMPARED TO THE LIBERALS TREATMENT OF BUSH

[JEFF]

I got my wages cut & now I can't afford to pay my bills, but I'm not going to cut my hours at the bar drinking beer. I'm just going to get on food stamps & head down to the local food pantry, because I'm tired of paying for food with my own money.

[Thomas Hawk]

It's troubling to me that Flickr would pull the Obama/Joker image from their site citing copyright concerns.

Parody has long been regarded as an absolute defense against copyright claims. That's why Weird Al gets to record and sell copies of "Eat It" to the same tune of Michael Jackson's "Beat It"

This image is clearly, absolutely and unequivocally parody.

What's more, in copyright cases the courts have always given political satire the widest berth of all -- it's why Ralph Nader was able to directly rip the Mastercard "Priceless" campaign and use it for political speech despite MasterCard's ownership of the copyright on that campaign. http://lawgeek.typepad.com/lawgeek...

The fact that Flickr would censor this image while allowing the copyrighted Obama HOPE image to flourish pretty much everywhere on Flickr smacks directly as an act of political bias and censorship. That's too bad.

It's unfortunate that the clear Pro Obama bias of Flickr's staff as evidenced by their glowing coverage of President Obama vs. President Bush on the Flickr Blog itself (74 mentions on the blog of Obama vs. 5 of Bush per Google) would result in this sort of action.

[Francois]

Very good picture of Obama. Some times the truth can hurt. He is a joker.
He comes across like some used car sales man. He want's to convince us that his health care plan is Good for us, but not for him. On ABC last Friday, he was asked this question: " Would you and your family accept this universal health care for your family?", he didn't answer the question, he just avoided it.
A congress man was asked the same question and his answer was, "We'll think about it". If it's good enough for us then it's good enough for them. So, why don't they give us the same health care plan that they have?

[Xavier]

Would he have done the same "artistic" work with a portrait of Bin Laden? I would be interested in hearing the answer to this question from his own mouth.

[Liam]

It's called humor! And to the goof who said, when those from the "Middle East" can come here, utilize our resources to achieve their personal agenda openly without shame is truly the end of life as TRUE RED BLOODED AMERICANS once knew...We all came from some place else, and his photo is an expression of his view point. It's called freedom of speech

[Williw Orwonthee]

When people mention racism let's not forget the cities that take turn being the murder capital of the United States. Chicago, Detroit, Baltimore, Washington D.C. , Oakland, Atlanta, Philadelphia all take turns being the murder capital of our country.

Racism?? Blacks murder more blacks than the Ku Klux Klan could ever have imagined. Worry about that, racism is way down the chart you brainwashed idiots.

Racism, Racism, Racism. You know what the smallest minority is? The individual.

When things aren't going your way & yet you are president of the most powerful country in the history of civilization don't let anyone deal the race card for you. It's bad form.

[jilliangood]

This really doesn't look like Obama. The ears don't stick out enough, and the lips should liver colored.

[James]

Alkhateeb = HERO!

Flikr = spineless tool of the establishment. Shameful cowardice.

[Jeff {SkAtEbOaRd}]

"Socialism" is ExAcTlY the correct word to pin to him..... who is fooling who?

[ONTIME]

The irony here is outstanding, that palestinian would demonstrate the tendencies of a redneck patriot, the kind the Dems are trying to squash. The Elephants need to send a RINO over to chat with this guy and see about using this poster to advocate the use of it in the upcoming campaigns, it really fits the bill and says a lot.

Bush had his own Joker Poster and News Week thought it made their point. The Newly Selected can do with one too.

[James]

Firas - Could you do an Al Gore version?

What Gary said. Watch out for the knife in the back - it's the liberal specialty.

[John Camacho]

Socialism is evil. We should therefore privatize the military, get rid of Medicare and all public educational institutions, farm subsidies, public transportation, Social Security, just get rid of all of it. All those countries who take of their citizens with successful public health programs are really just idiots. They are sucking the blood of the rich, those productive members of society that we all benefit from! Let the book burning begin!!!!

Not.

I cannot understand how people can confuse this country with socialism. Public programs are run by people. Not a fascist economic system. You cannot remove capitalism from America by having public programs.

[Banderman]

Who said socialism was evil? Do you want a list, you silly, foolish liberal journalist? If you want socialism, move to Venuzuela or Cuba. Go, they (and I) will be glad to see you change teams.

[Peacetrain]

"...who said being a socialist is evil?"

Well, socialism in a capitalist system, such as United States, does not work. I don't think we want to eliminate a system that has made this country one of the most powerful nation in the world.

[J Hamilton]

"When those from the "Middle East" can come here, utilize our resources to achieve their personal agenda openly without shame is truly the end of life as TRUE RED BLOODED AMERICANS once knew..."

Please tell me you were being ironic, Patrick. With a namesake such as yours (and mine), you should be the last one to speak of what is or isn't "TRUE RED BLOODED AMERICANS". Your ancestry is from Scotland, for pity's sake!

If anything, this is an affirmation of what this country was intended to be - EVERYONE has a voice and freedom to critique, especially to be critical of government. Those in power should be the most scrutinized of us all.

[Punkindrublic]

He's another suit of the empty variety with one nasty twist: idiots actually believe this huckster will pay for their health care; you buffoons!
What they've failed to connect with is that with HIS (BHO) plan financially destroy/rape/pillage/burn-to-the-ground ALL sectors of the economy that ARE currently funding health care for those that simply can't afford it. Now, where does he get the funds?!? Hmmmmm?!?!?

[spondee]

Yep, with unfettered socialism, you have all the wealth being re-distributed to the population. Horror! Of course, with unfettered capitalism you have children in coal mines, and no standards of health or accountability; mucks about with the profits, don't you know?

Speaking of history, have you ever read The Jungle by Upton Sinclair?

[Wacko]

You have our support. This president is an Imposter!

[Daisy 21]

I'm amazed at the uproar that this drawing of Obama has drawn. Vanity Fair or some such liberal magazine did the same thing to George Bush, and I don't recall any outcry from the media about it.

[losing american hope]

i think that you really have to bend your mind to make since of the joker/socialism corrilation. however it is about time someone shocked the masses, and gave people a chance to break out of this odd mindset that has been rampent through our country. The way things are looking Obama is a socialist; and while there may be nothing "evil" about being a socialist it is most defently UNAMERICAN.

The poster could be percieved while recalling one of the last moments of the batman movie where the joker is hanging upside down after putting a boat of prisoners and civilians against eachother. See there are still people looking to good in this city, or in this case the country. We work hard to live by the means that we are comfortable and CHOOSE what charities we would like to contribute to. I worry about our drive to work hard in the future. we already have a hard enough time with customer service in this country, with no iniative it will only get worse. Further more, the people in the upper tax braket (of which i am not, i am a college student) worked hard and earned their money and means of living, there is no reason anybody, of any taxbracet should have to give even more of their money just because they have more then the person living next to them who didnt get the best hand delt to them in life, therefore not being able to do as much as they would like in life. Maybe the real solution is going back to our youth and anybody else who does not understand yet, that to get what you want in life you must WORK for it!

[kyle]

Welfare, Social Security and Medicaid are all socialist programs as well. people on the right dont know that.

[founding principles]

i think it's funny that the news can poke fun at Bush to the point of ridiculousness but whenever Obama is put up on the stage, somehow it's racists...

[truth]

quit giving this guy attention for using a photoshop tutorial. biig whoop, he made obama look like the joker. it was not his own work technically since he used a photoshop tutorial. they also have action scripts to jokerize things. so load up a pic of someone, and apply the photoshop script with one click of a button and voila, anyone can be jokerized. this guy is not original. he is not good at what he does. he's a nobody.

all this publicity means is he will get a job over someone else simply for being 'famous' by being in the news, even if he is under qualified. so thanks america, you just made a nobody 'famous', and cost someone else more deserving and original a future job.

just another example of how people can become famous by using someone elses hard work to create a rip off of their own. no one even mentions the creator of the tutorial.

[Marty]

So calling Obama a socialist is immature behavior? What about Obama ISN'T socialist? I think that you, Mr. Alkhateeb, are immature and "behaving stupidly", and your grasp of history is obviously not your long suit. Socialism is evil and it leaves a trail of garbage and misery to whatever it comes in contact with.

[Jasper]

What a shame...should not have insulted the Joker this way

[notarealdoctor]

The "artist" is nothing special. Most of the commenters here are people who know nothing of history other than what Fox tells them, however.
Socialism evil? Ask: Great Britain, the Netherlands, all the Scandinavian countries, i.e. any place in Europe that knows that health care is a human right, not a commodity to be bought and sold while people die. Capitalism is an epic failure at providing anything that people actually need (housing, healthcare, education), but brilliant at providing an abundance of stuff no one needs (soda, flat screen tvs, Humvees).
Socialism? We should be so lucky.

[Courteous Wolf]

A talented gentleman that has his head screwed on right! Obama is a joker, and a liar, and a fraud!

[John Kelley]

Brilliant portrait art on par with past defining portraits like Gilbert Stewart's Washington and Jamie Wyeth's JFK. Socialism IS evil. Believe it! Barry is really a Fascist with a minor in socialism. Your picture has captured this important period of American History. There is nothing presidential about this guy and his gang and communist clubs like ACORN and La Raza. Nothing. They will rob us blind and dominate every aspect of your life if allowed to. Hillary must kick herself every day. Great art.

[stephen]

You're right, Bob, Obama is a terrorist.

[John]

Had it done this to a G.W. Bush photo it would have been art. But to Obama, why that just ain't right. That's where free speech stops.

[YankeeBill]

OBAMA FOR PRESIDENT!!!!!!!!! BARF!!!!!!!!

[Lu]

LOVE IT!!!

[Federico Garza Carvajal]

Bravo Monsieur Alkhateeb. Excellent grafics and a far better 'critique' of the Special One. Cordialement. . .A Texan exiled in La Place de la Sorbonne.

[Bob]

Its funny how he doesn't say he thinks Obama isn't a socialist, just that he thinks it isn't evil.

And its not in theory, its all high-minded and nice actually. Even the theory will produce a bunch of worthless layabout scum who won't do anything for themselves, of course, seeing as it is strife and competition that create good, functioning human beings not simply having everything guaranteed to you, and then of course when the theory is put into practice it turns into one big treasury chest for the guys running the operation all the way down through the entire structure of gov't peons skimming from the top. And then you have a nonfunctioning horribly inefficient system and a worthless populace of bums to boot.

Socialism is not evil, its just really really stupid. Obama's a socialist, and America has adopted a lot of socialism since the New Deal, which was their foot in the door. And it sure as hell hasn't done us one bit of good. Banks wouldn't have been forced to give home loans to a bunch of bums who they knew would never pay them off inciting a recession in a capitalist system, they would made loans they knew would give them returns.

[Harry]

He would've voted for Kucinich but he believes in the Republican's domestic platform? So, basically, he's a whiny 20 year old who thinks his s... doesn't stink and he knows it all, but has zero facts to back anything up.

And his artwork sucks, too.

[Andy]

"First of all, who said being a socialist is evil?"

How about the millions who suffered under it?

Oh, right! They can't speak, because they were executed under socialist regimes. My bad.

By the way, let's also not forget images of people being shot in the back, trying to escape those regimes.

Mr. Alkhateeb should not have slept through history class.

[Hope]

I'm sorry, but neither the graphic nor the guy makes any sense. He backs Republicans on domestic issues but is a Kucinich voter? Puhleeze! And reading some of the comments from the wingnuttia among us, it's the blind leading the blind. And admit it, you're not opposed to Obama because of any policy, you're mainly opposed to him because of pigment. We see right through the spin.

[Dan]

whitesipral says:

"Nazism just gets the bad press, but it's the left that's most terrible."

LOL

[ghjnfghjmhxfnfxdgn]

Oh, its an arab terrorist not a human being. . Well, in that case, whatever "accident" he may have by Obama is deserved.

[Photoshop pro]

Good job, Mr. Alkhateeb. If only right-wingers understood the difference between socialism (state ownership of the means of production) and fascism (a declining state being looted by finance capitalists), and if only left-wingers understood the difference between socialism and the American System (a nationalist economy that protects private enterprise by fighting big business and international money).

The poster should either say "FASCIST" or "JOKE" in the Obama typeface (Gotham bold).

[Tom Martin]

Socialism is the ultimate of evil because it deprives men of their free agency. Anyone who can even entertain a socialist or communist form of government either does not understand government and philosophy or has visions of grandeur of being among the ruling class. Any form of government which takes fman's free agency away is inherently evil. We are placed on earth to make choices as to how we will live our lives, earn our livings, care for ourselves and our families, enjoy the fruits of our labors.

[Socialist Jew]

"Socialism was the core principles of Hitler and Mussollini. That's why its wrong.
Posted by: Danile Hubbell | August 17, 2009 at 07:46 PM"

You would have to know zero zilch nothing about either dictator to make a statement like that. Danile (ironic name), do you know how many Jews have been socialist leaders? Do you know how many thousands of socialists, social democrats, and communists Hitler exterminated? The founds of the first socialist party in Germany was A JEWISH WOMAN fer crissakes.

Look - Hitler and Mussollini were FASCISTS. Fascism is the OPPOSITE of socialism. It is the concentration of government power in the hands of corporations. Socialism is the concentration of corporate power in the hands of the government.

Was it that Mussollini was a socialist during the first world war? Or did you realize that Nazi mean "national socialist" and then, without researching why it has that name, just assume that they are socialists?

Seriously, people, if you want to tar Obama with the name of a dictator, at least call him Stalin or Mao or Pol Pot. There's no real legitimate comparison with those either, but at least those guys were left wing extremists, not right wingers like Hitler and Mussollini.

Oh my f'ing god I just can't believe that there are people out that that think the Nazis - who deeply integrated big business into every aspect of their society, who held racist supremicist views as their core beliefs, WHO FORCED SOCIAL DEMOCRATS TO WEAR RED TRIANGLES IN CONCENTRATIONS CAMPS (like the Jews were forced to wear yellow stars) - were socialists.

[mike]

Where did you get the bumper stickers ? Can I get Posters anywhere?

[Dave]

Congratulations!! You just contributed to the ongoing problem in America known as racism. This is the very same thing you are people like you have been subjected to during this "war on terror". I hope you feel better when you hear comparisons to Hitler, Socialism, Communism and other crazy things they have on your picture. I hope you are proud!!

[steve rodriguez]

I thought all Muslims liked Obama? I guess not!!!

[DukeLaw]

People who think history shows that socialism is evil are stupid and uneducated creationist types.

There I said it.

[Dan]

The National Socialists were another name for the NAZI party. It's all the same. Socialism is evil.
Posted by: David J, Florida | August 18, 2009 at 08:39 AM
-----------
First sentence: wrong. Nazi is an abbreviation of the German word, not "another name" for it.

Second sentence: wrong. Read a book.

Third sentence: See above.

Next!

[Dan]

Where was the "outrage" when the pictures of Bush as the Joker made their way into the media?
Just sayin...
Posted by: Ferd | August 18, 2009 at 11:26 AM
______________

Listen, pumpkin: Bush was villified for his action while in power (Iraq, stem cell research, etc.).

Obama was harshly (and unfairly) bashed the very first day he was in office, if not before.

The moral of this is: the criticism of Bush was justified, the criticism of Obama reeks of partisanship and/or racism.

Next!

[Dan]

Socialism is absolutley evil and corrupt. History tells the truth.
Posted by: j newam | August 18, 2009 at 01:27 PM
_______________

Wrong. Read a book.

Next!