The art world backers of Barack Obama
by Emily Sharpe

NEW YORK. Figures released last month by the Federal Election Commission show that Senator Barack Obama raised more money ($24.8m) than Senator Hillary Clinton ($19.1m) during the first quarter of the Democratic primary campaign.

Donors of around $2,000 to Senator Obama include top art collectors such as DreamWorks chief executive David Geffen; TV producer and Hammer Museum board member Dean Valentine, who recently donated 40 works to the institution; Agnes Gund, President Emerita of MoMA (who also gave funds to Hillary Clinton and John Edwards); and Chicago dealer Rhona Hoffman.

Donations of around $1,000 have come from the New York dealer Peter Findlay, John McCarter, president of the Field Museum in Chicago, and Valentina Castellani of Gagosian Gallery in New York.

Artist supporters include Dana Schutz, who painted him for the cover of The New Republic magazine, and David Cordero, a student at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, who made a papier mâché sculpture of the senator for his senior show. Although he backs the senator, Cordero says his piece reflects his concern that “Obama is being viewed as a potential saviour and it is dangerous to put this type of expectation onto one individual”.