The latest in a series of politically inflected sculptures to appear on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., is a giant golden toilet that can now be found near the Lincoln Memorial.
Its title, as its plaque states, is A Throne Fit for a King, and its makers is the Secret Handshake, the same group of anonymous artists that also produced Best Friends Forever, a sculpture that featured a beaming Donald Trump and the convicted sex offender Jeffrey Epstein.
“With so much horror happening on a daily basis, it’s easy to forget what this President has actually accomplished. Like remodeling The Lincoln Bathroom,” the Secret Handshake told ARTnews in an email.
The group was referring to Trump’s renovation last year of the bathroom attached to the Lincoln Bedroom, a guest room at the White House. At Trump’s behest, the bathroom’s Art Deco–style green tiling was switched out for sterile marble, leading to online mockery. Trump said on Truth Social that the gesture was “appropriate for the time of Abraham Lincoln and, in fact, could be the marble that was originally there!”
Conducted during a government shutdown, the renovation was “happening faster than anticipated, one of my trademarks,” Trump said at the time. While the toilet itself still seems to be made out of porcelain, the lavatory’s trash can, lamps, and faucet handles are now gold.
“In a time of unprecedented division, escalating conflict, and economic turmoil, President Trump focused on what truly mattered: remodeling the Lincoln Bathroom in the White House,” its plaque notes. “This, his crowning achievement, is a bold reminder that the President isn’t just a businessman, he’s taking care of business. It stands as a tribute to an unwavering visionary who looked down, saw a problem, and painted it gold.”
The 10-foot-tall sculpture on the Mall contains a golden toilet that can be sat upon, the artists said, noting that the work will remain on view for several days. The group called its sculpture a “monument” in the email to ARTnews.
Though the artists did note as much, their toilet is also presumably inspired by Maurizio Cattelan’s 2016 sculpture “America”, which famously appeared at the Guggenheim Museum that same year. A functional toilet made out of 18-karat solid gold, “America” was so popular that some 100,000 waited to use it during its year-long run at the museum, according to the Guggenheim.
In 2017, the Trump administration requested the loan of a van Gogh painting owned by the Guggenheim. The Guggenheim declined the loan request, with curator Nancy Spector saying the painting could not travel according to museum policy, and instead offered to send “America” in its place.
The plaque of A Throne Fit for a King.
Courtesy the Secret Handshake
