No, not the sculpture above. That massive monument dedicated to Martin Luther King, Jr., is part of his national memorial which stands in Washington, DC. The awful piece of art to which I’m referring is the new MLK bronze sculpture just unveiled in Boston.

The work is entitled “The Embrace,” and it is based upon this 1964 photo of King and his wife Coretta, when MLK was photographed hugging Mrs. King after he learned of his nomination for the Nobel Peace Prize.

This is the picture that created “The Embrace” in #Boston #MLK #MLKDay2023 pic.twitter.com/fWYSMhfNPB

— Jabari (@The_10thLetter) January 14, 2023

A group called “Embrace Boston” spearheaded the project over a five-year period. The group employed Brooklyn artist Hank Willis Thomas to create the 22-foot high, nearly 20-ton sculpture to honor MLK and his wife. “Embrace Boston” claims that they are all about “racial and economic justice” activism, and their website also includes this:

“Working at the intersection of arts and culture, community, and research to dismantle structural racism. We see a radically inclusive and equitable Boston where everyone belongs and Black people prosper, grounded in joy, love, and well-being.”

As for Thomas himself — his website says that he is an artist who works “with themes related to perspective, identity, commodity, media, and popular culture.” His progressive art themes have included a neon installation in San Francisco called “Love Over Rules.” Another piece in Opa Locke, FL, is called “All Power to All People.” Plus, in 2017 Thomas received the “Soros Equality Fellowship.”

Need I say more?

Of course, ABC’s Good Morning America gushed over the MLK sculpture on Sunday morning.

People Have Questions About That MLK Sculpture

It’s rather disturbing that the new sculpture features only disembodied arms without heads. But you know how people look at clouds and see different images? People not so artsy or progressive as Hank Willis Thomas and “Embrace Boston” see other images — and they’re shocking.

Darleen wrote about the MLK behemoth on her newest edition of “Sunday Morning Cafe Cocktails.” She called the artwork “excremental.”

“Now far be it from me to point out that a lot of what passes for public-funded art is more excremental than not. But so literally?”

The website Not The Bee said bluntly that “Boston just honored MLK with a statue that looks like a butt.”

But that was mild, in the anatomical sense. There were those who saw hands holding male genitalia aloft.

Worse from this angle, Zuby. pic.twitter.com/5BhKtohcAc

— Sir Paul Alves (@StarshipAlves) January 14, 2023

Even Coretta Scott King’s cousin, Seneca Scott, thinks the sculpture looks like a, ahem, male member. He told the New York Post:

“The mainstream media … was reporting on it like it was all beautiful, ’cause they were told they had to say that. But then when it came out, a little boy pointed out — ‘That’s a penis!’ and everyone was like, ‘Yo, that’s a big old dong, man …”

But before anyone hisses “that’s raycissss,” here’s a black journalist from Boston who finds the sculpture appalling, as well as disrespectful.

Given that I am not White, I am safe from ANY charges of racism for saying the MLK embrace statue is aesthetically unpleasant. The famous photo should have been a FULL statue of the couple and their embrace. What a huge swing and miss in honoring the Dr & Mrs King. SAD! #bospoli pic.twitter.com/w8yqSjOfqs

— Rasheed N. Walters (@rasheednwalters) January 13, 2023

What in the World Was the Artist Thinking?

When I first saw the Boston MLK sculpture, I thought of an art installation that stands in front of a local church (no, not mine). Like “The Embrace,” this piece also features disembodied arms, but in this case they form a heart. Get it?

This is how the sculpture appears from the drive leading out of the church parking lot. But when you see it from the street, it looks like blobs with hands attached. Yet it looked even worse when the church first installed the sculpture several years ago, because then it had a blood-red hue. I called it the “Blood Clot Sculpture” back then. Thankfully the weather has bleached it out over the years.

Personal photo.

I’m not sure the church considered how it would appear to the public when they installed this art. Just like I’m not sure that the MLK sculptor contemplated how his work would appear from all angles, either.

My husband is an illustrator and designer, with art as his lifetime career. He’s not a sculptor, but after spending decades as a professional artist, he says this:

“Sometimes illustrations look better in my head than when they’re executed.” 

Perhaps Hank Willis Thomas should’ve thought of that before he foisted this horrendous “tribute” to Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the weekend before his national holiday. Perhaps “Embrace Boston” should’ve embraced a different artist, or at least vetted the concept he had in mind before this all came to fruition. But Hank Willis Thomas fit nicely into their progressive narrative, so it was all good.

Epic fail, Boston. Epic fail. Dr. and Mrs. King deserve better than this.

Featured image: personal photo.