A group of local artists is accusing the Chicago Public Library of censoring an exhibit that was critical of President Donald Trump, but the city won’t publicly comment on whether the early removal of their artwork was due to its political content.
Titled “We Are Not Done Yet,” the installation at the Austin-Irving library branch on the Northwest Side featured 16 artists and was on display from July until last week, when the city ordered the works be taken down, according to the group’s curator, Sara Peak Convery. She alleged the library made the decision “following political complaints by two unnamed individuals who are city employees and are on city payroll.”
“This exhibition was censored and shut down,” Peak Convery wrote in a statement. “Such censorship undermines the city’s ability to defend its residents against President Trump’s right-wing attacks and wider assaults on expression and democratic rights.”
In a phone call, Peak Convery said someone “affiliated” with CPL informed her that on Sept. 16 a maintenance staffer visiting the location complained to the head librarian about the political nature of the art, saying he was going to take his grievances up the chain of command.
The next day, the library received a phone call from a woman who made a similar complaint, and by Thursday the building engineer removed the pieces from the wall, according to Peak Convery.
A library spokesman confirmed the exhibit was taken down early, though only by a few days after being on display for over two months this summer.
“The works were removed because they were hung in contravention of CPL’s administrative review and approval process,” Patrick Molloy said in a statement.
He and other CPL staffers did not respond to further inquiries about that process or whether they were aware of any complaints over the art’s political messaging.
A source with CPL said the decision was actually because of damage to the wall where the artwork was hung, which was why the branch manager called an engineer to the site. The source said nonetheless, CPL asked the city’s Law Department for guidance on how to handle politically charged displays moving forward.
The theme of the exhibit centered on the state of America under a second Trump administration, and its impact on “world affairs, fascism, cultural issues” and beyond. One such piece, titled “Swamp King,” satirizes the president in a comic strip as a frog with a blonde toupee and his Secretary of State Marco Rubio as a chameleon.
Tim Chapman, the artist behind that cartoon, said he was troubled by the timing of the removal after late night TV host Jimmy Kimmel was suspended last week over his commentary on the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.
“You either want speech or you don’t,” Chapman said in a phone interview. “You either want public discussion or you don’t, and art is speech and art is public discussion.”
Chapman’s comic strip depicts the Rubio character rushing to “be the first to tell the Good Ol’ King the Good Ol’ News” — which was that “the disgusting lawless peasants are rebelling.”
“Fake news. They’re paid protestors,” the Trump-like frog responds. “They don’t appreciate me lockin’ up the lizards. … Sayyyy, Liddle Marco. Now that I think of it, chameleons are lizards. You’re a chameleon, right?”
Tim Chapman’s “Swamp King” comic was among artwork pulled from display at the Austin-Irving branch of the Chicago Public Library. Chapman’s work and other pieces by different artists were on display at the branch in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood for over two months. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)
The Rubio figure then goes into hiding by blending in with the foliage, but he still gets captured by two frog henchmen while crying out, “Wait, your highness. Look! I cut off my tail. Now I’m just like you. Ribbit?”
“Bye bye, Liddle Marco … Lock him up, boys,” the Trump character says in the last panel. “How does my hair look, honey?”
Another controversy over artistic expression on city property reared its head earlier this year when a majority of the City Council signed a letter to Mayor Brandon Johnson condemning a puppet display at the Chicago Cultural Center as antisemitic and calling on the city to take it down.
The free, public exhibit in the city-run building featured a two-sided “protest puppet” with bloodied caricatures of Uncle Sam and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
The CPL commissioner, Chris Brown, has served in his role since being appointed by Johnson’s predecessor Lori Lightfoot in 2021.
Originally Published: September 24, 2025 at 4:28 PM CDT