Drone Street Art: The Essam Attia Fundraiser

 (please click to enlarge photos!)

Last week I went to a fundraiser for Essam Attia, the artist behind the NYPD drone street art series.  Though I am not a great big fan of street art in general, as it mostly tends to be meaningless and self-referential, I wanted to meet Attia because I had been following his work over the last year and found it intriguing.  These included several Thomas Jefferson quote stencils that I photographed, here, here, and here, the 'NYPD' Drone Activity in Progress sign, and a 'Wanted Poster' for Totalitarian Barack Hussein Obama and Mitt Romney that was posted around my neighborhood during the presidential campaign.

 

It wasn't until Attia was arrested for his fake NYPD propaganda posters that I was able to tie all of his work together.

 

Essam Attia is charged with 56 counts of possession of a forged instrument, grand larceny and possession of an unloaded .22 caliber revolver, which was found under his bed when his apartment in Manhattan was raided.  The fundraiser was a silent auction arranged to help pay his legal fees.
In an interview with the Wall Street Journal:
... he explained that he first became familiar with drones during his tour in Iraq. "I was in Iraq between 2003 and 2006 and I was a geospatial analyst—a mapmaker. There were only three Predator drones then. They were just used for surveillance, and at the time, I thought, like, 'Wow, this is an amazing technology.' But we've obviously seen that perverted, you know? American citizens are being killed by drone strikes without due process," he said.
Unexpectedly, Mr. Attia sounded almost ecstatic about his own time in the military: "I got into it to pay for my education at SVA, which my family didn't have the means to do, but I learned so much and had an amazing time. I met some of my best friends in the world there." 

 
 

Here are just a few examples of the art that was donated for auction.

Posters and t-shirts were also for sale.  If you are interested in any of the art visit: Free ESSAM. 

In the below video Essam Attia is introduced.

The place was packed from wall to wall.  There was an open bar, a DJ and a music show with several bands that took place downstairs later that night.

Looking around at all the people tightly packed into the gallery who where there to support Essam Attia; artists, musicians, hipsters, models, scene-makers, all I kept thinking was, "If all of these people here are so concerned with our freedom and civil liberties, then why the Hell do they keep voting for Progressive Totalitarians like Barry Predator Drone Obama and Mayor Nanny Bloomberg?"