Painting of Sean Taylor Sparks Controversy

Sep/18/08 09:42 PM Filed in: Sean Taylor
SeanTaylor copy
A painting honoring  murdered Washington Redskins (web|news) safety Sean Taylor is causing a lot of controversy.

The artist planned to sell his artwork showing Taylor and donate some of the money to charity. But the team has other ideas.

It hangs in Champs Restaurant in Pentagon Row, a 5x6 foot oil painting of Taylor, the Redskins safety killed last November.

"I think it's a great tribute to him," said one customer. "I think the painting itself is beautiful," said another.

But Jason Swain, who painted it as a tribute, can't sell it. The Kensington artist, who specializes in portraits, planned to sell the painting for $20,000 and donate $5,000 to Children's Hospital. He said the Redskins' management saw it on exhibit and liked it.

"But they wanted me to donate it to them," said Swain. "You know, 200 hours work, I really can't afford to give away a piece like this, and also the hospital wouldn't have made anything out of it," he said.

So he told the Redskins, no freebie.

"That's when I got the email saying the logos were a problem," said Swain.

The Redskins told Swain he would have to remove all team and NFL logos because of corporate branding and legal issues. So now Swain can't sell his painstaking tribute to Sean Taylor - unless he gets his paint brush back out.

"I just hate to change something like that - he's a Redskin, it's like he'd be wearing a blank uniform," said Swain. "It just wouldn't be the same."

(wjla.com)