This is Dicky, the artist of a small black mustache on Trump posters in Groningen. ‘I was so bothered by that rotten head’

The former and who knows, future president of America stares out into the world from large billboards. Trump is everywhere, at least in 535 places in Groningen, Leeuwarden, Assen and Zwolle.

In the city of Groningen, someone else is watching with Trump. Someone who is reminiscent of Hitler, because almost all enormous portrait photos have a narrow, black mustache. It is done so consistently that passers-by wonder whether the photo was originally with or without a mustache. After all, artist Andres Serrano is not predictable.

That doubt is exactly what painter Dicky Visserman (58) from Groningen wanted to sow with his mustache campaign, which he calls subtle. “I’ve thought about it carefully.”

‘Woman rapist and dictator’

He didn’t know what he saw on Monday when he cycled through the city. He saw those huge posters with Trump’s photo everywhere. “It bothered me so much, that rotten face on every street corner. It kept me awake. Trump is a rapist and a dictator. A terrible figure!”

The next day he knew what he had to do. He set out in his painting outfit, armed with a pot of black quality paint and a brush. He gave all the Trumps in town a mustache. Passersby gave him a thumbs up and burst out laughing.

On Wednesday afternoon, Visserman thought his job was done and he had received all the city’s posters. When he was on his way to Leek, he came across another poster at Hoogkerk. He didn’t think twice, stopped and also gave this Trump a mustache.

Hitler, Chaplin, Trump

Just then a police car passed by. The two officers got out and accused him of painting a Hitler mustache on Trump. “No, no,” countered Visserman. “This mustache was fashionable in the 1920s. It’s a Charlie Chaplin mustache.”

What might have been a better story – but Visserman did not know it – was that this so-called toothbrush mustache was still in vogue after the Second World War among some prominent people, such as Fred Trump. That’s right: Donald Trump’s father.

In any case, the two officers made extensive phone calls to their boss from the scene of the crime and got Visserman booked. The fine amounts to 170 euros. Visserman shrugs it off. “It’s apparently the law. I’ll just pay the fine, because I stand by my actions.”

‘I’m happily cycling through the city again’

He hears about the number of Trump portraits that decorate the North. “If we perform somewhere with our band, we can stick a poster on a sticker, otherwise it will cost us tons of money. These hundreds of posters are just hanging there. We shouldn’t give a guy like that so much attention, should we?”

He acknowledges that his mustaches attract even more attention. “It is a political action of mine, with exactly the right effect. All those posters made me feel nauseous, but now, with a moustache, the image is correct and I cycle happily through the city again.”

Director Dirk Nijdam of the Forum – where the America & Trump exhibition can be seen – is aware of the mustache promotion. According to him, the exhibition is not propaganda for Trump, but aims to get people to think about Trump. The mustache matches that. “Although I would have preferred glasses,” Nijdam notes matter-of-factly. “The fact is that we cannot ignore Trump and that supporters and opponents must continue to talk to each other. Polarization brings us nothing.”

The police say that it does not matter whether the perpetrator wears a mustache or glasses. This concerns the criminal offense of defacement. The Trump posters will remain in Groningen until April 7.