The painter said the Department of Homeland Security stole his work to hold a position on “land heritage”
Earlier this week, the Department of Homeland Security posted a picture on its X account, depicting an oil painting of a man and a woman in the old west, holding the baby in a covered van. DHS added the title: “Remember the legacy of your home.”
The painting is a painting New life in new landauthored by American painter Morgan Westling, mainly created realistic paintings of life on the border of the United States. Before turning to fine art in 1998, he was an illustrator of film and video games.
However, Westling said in a new post on his website that DHS has not obtained permission to share images. It reads: “Note: I used a painting I drew on social media a few years ago, my painting I drew was used without my permission.”
The longer messages originally posted to his website and his social media accounts are called “violating my copyright to the painting” usage.
“It was a surprise for me, and I was trying to gather what happened and what to do next,” he wrote. New Republic.
While Weistling is not satisfied with DHS’ use of his work, he seems to have at least some political alignment with the Trump administration. Westerling appears to have an ongoing partnership with conservative evangelical nonprofits, one of the longest and most radical opponents of abortion visits and LGBTQIA+ rights, to sell his painting prints through Focus’ online store.
One of the prints provided is a copy of the paintings published by DHS. The title there is Pray for a new lifethe text notes that it “even though a young family faces many harms on their journey through the Pioneer West, it celebrates the value of life.”
Just two weeks ago, DHS released a different image of a painting that also showed an idyllic view of American life, from different times. That’s the work of Thomas Kinkade Morning guaranteeshowing suburban communities in the mid-century.
