BY CHRISTOPHER S. PINEO
NAVAJO TIMES
GALLUP — The city of Gallup got a complaint about a trash can and acted promptly to remove the off ending receptacle.
But it turned out it wasn’t a trash can but a planter, which the city removed on April 5. The city said they got a complaint about the planter regarding a mural painted on it, which had a revolutionary theme and the image of the late Larry Casuse.
Barry Klopfer, a lawyer, sponsored the mural as part of a Business Improvement District project. Recently he said he received word that the city plans to return the planter.
“I think that one way or another, Mr. Casuse will come back,” Klopfer said.
What image created such a controversy?
Ric Sarracino painted the mural. He said he has painted Navajo men with tomahawks, an image of a woman with an AK-47, and the likeness of Casuse on the planter at the request of Klopfer.
“Barry’s kind of a radical,” Sarracino said.
The mural contained revolutionary imagery and recalled an incident from the history of Gallup that apparently drew a complaint to the city.
“I like controversy,” Sarracino said. “I like things to be talked about.”
The mural got people talking about the 1973 incident when Casuse kidnapped then-Mayor Emmett Garcia in an attempt to hold the mayor – also a liquor store owner – accountable for the number of liquor licenses the city issued and alcohol-related deaths of Diné.
Police shot Casuse in the incident, killing the University of New Mexico student.
“I basically know the story,” said Sarracino.
He depicted the story on the planter and understood why it could cause controversy but not why the city reacted by removing the piece completely.
“I thought it was kind of stupid,” he said. “It’s art. It’s history.”
He said he understands Casuse being perceived as a rebel to some and a revolutionary to others.
“Geronimo was a rebel, and he’s on T-shirts and stuff,” Sarracino said.
He experienced something similar earlier this year, when he was asked to remove a mural of President Donald Trump from another building.
He expressed some sympathy for the position of the city.
“There’s two sides to every story,” he said. “If it offends people, remove it.”
City Manager Maryann Ustick said the city responded to a complaint and acted with all possible haste.
“We got a complaint from a member of the family of the former mayor,” she said.
The mural on the planter was the result of a summer contest held to decorate city-owned receptacles such as trash cans and planters in time for Ceremonial in August. Ustick provided a letter to business owners about the program.
The letter said the Business Improvement District, in collaboration with gallupARTS, Main Street Arts and Cultural District and the city, organized a downtown trash can painting competition.
“The goal of this project is to help revitalize downtown Gallup by showcasing our community’s creativity and talent,” the letter says.
She also provided the rules of the competition, which included no nudity, no copyright-protected imagery (including logos), no gang-related or violent imagery and no culturally insensitive or offensive imagery.
“When we found out there was one that did not comply with the guidelines, we had it removed,” Ustick said.
The image of the AK-47 was cited as falling outside of these rules, even though the potter wasn’t painted for the competition.
Klopfer later posted on Facebook photos of other murals in town that feature firearms.
The event “Demand City of Gallup Return Confiscated Political Street Art” takes place on April 25 and has 34 Facebook users who say they are going and 134 interested.
Francis Bee and Archie Baca, of BID, did not return calls for this story. However, Ustick said the contest ended with a surplus of funds. BID later used those funds to create a few more murals according to Ustick.
“The one in front of Barry Klopfer’s office was done without the involvement of the city,” Ustick said.
She said the Gallup Parks and Recreation Department has the planter now and it may be returned.
“The board is working with the property owner,” she said.
COURTESY PHOTO
This potter was removed from the sidewalk in front of the law office of Barry Klopfer in downtown Gallup. It features the late Larry Casuse and the date when he was shot and killed by police after abducting the mayor in 1973.