This piece, originally intended for the New Yorker, who said: “Thanks for sending your Kaepernick image. We wish we could use it, but unfortunately […] the timing of our double issue is not working in our favor” was published by the Paris Review instead.
NFL star Colin Kaepernick, by famously kneeling down while the national anthem was played at a game in 2017 (over which he lost his job), created an iconic image of standing up to systemic racism in the US.
Archive for Personal Work
Warby Parker recently unveiled Otto's art at their new Baltimore store.
For more information on the mural, please check out Otto Steininger Facebook page. Otto was honored to get the commission from such a socially responsible company, and join the ranks of artists like Maira Kalman and Geoff McFetridge (whose art is featured at other Warby Parker locations). Warby Parker donates money to their portfolios of charities that train others in providing glasses, as well as buying materials to make and sell glasses. Instead of outright donating glasses, they're equipping people in economically distressed areas with the tools they need to find a career. Aside from eye care, the Warby Parker stores encourage literacy. Their employees all get a copy of Jack Kerouac's Dharma Bums when they begin working there. The FAQs on the Warby Parker website has other book recommendations. The retail locations have more books to peruse if you're interested. We hope that the people coming into the Baltimore store will enjoy the artwork as much as Otto enjoyed creating it!
For the longest time people from both sides of the political spectrum thought they could laugh him off, including myself. But Trump is no laughing matter. Even if he doesn't secure the Republican nomination, let alone become President, he has already done a lot of damage by telegraphing that it is now OK to be openly racist and xenophobic, insult large parts of the population, and worst of all, by giving that most insidious brand of racism an unprecedented boost: thanks to Trump, white supremacism is now a "trending color".
Otto Steininger’s tribute to Eric Garner, Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin and countless other unarmed blacks who keep losing their lives on an ongoing basis to racially biased police or vigilante brutality, made in USA.
