Atlanta Obama Voter Goes Rogue, Creates Joker Statue in Protest

You know the wheels are coming off the Hope and Change slave train when an Atlanta artist who voted for Zero suddenly finds himself as a political satirist with his art for sale on ebay for as much as the ludicrous some of $5 million (no offense to Andy Davis, but I wouldn't pay 5 pesos for anything resembling Obama).

Perhaps it's a gesture toward convincing Obama to curb his enthusiasm for deficit spending...

He said he took the image seen at Tea Party rallies around the country and painted it onto some miscast busts of Obama.

"I believed that the state of politics in America has kind of become somewhat of a joke," Davis said.

He said he didn't set out to make the president into the Joker, the famed villain from Batman.

When Obama was elected, Davis said he made 50 bronze busts and sold them for $500 to $1,000 a piece. But then Davis said he grew frustrated by the bailouts, by the country's growing debt, that he felt his personal freedoms were threatened.

"Several months ago I was at the studio, I had some paint laying around for a couple of years, a few of the miscast pieces of Barack Obama, and I started painting the Obama joker face," Davis said.

"It's political satire, and it's the first time I've ever really done something like that."

"I was going to say because you're not a political satirist," said 11Alive Reporter Jaye Watson.

"Exactly! But I'm a red-blooded American who loves my freedom," Davis replied.

He said he gave some of the joker busts to friends, he sold some, one even wound up on eBay, and one was a door prize at a Tea Party fundraiser in Rockdale County.

"I think it raised quite a bit of money," Davis said.

Critics of the Obama Joker have said it's disrespectful to the office of the president. Davis said it's politicians who are disrespectful to America.

"Some perceive the Obama joker as being racist, what do you say to that?" Watson asked.

"What I painted was a sculpture," Davis said. "I painted an image of a joker on the sculpture, and when I was doing it myself, the thought of race did not come into my mind, not even for a millionth of a second."

"How did you hope it would be received and perceived?" Watson asked.

Davis said, "I really did not, I didn't care, and I don't care now as long it's perceived and received by a lot of people and then they can draw their own conclusions. "

He said he is not a member of the Tea Party, but he feels that they're people like him, organizing and standing up.

For this lifelong mainstream artist who brings rebellious characters to life, a controversial move of his own.

"I always play the good guy," Davis said. "For once I want to play the mean guy, the Darth Vader character or the bad boy. Well, this was my chance to break out and maybe this is kind of my Darth Vader. Who knows?"

Hey, we all know that in America life imitates art, so ... go buy that statue!