So the Secret Service shut down an art exhibit titled "The Assassination of Hillary Clinton/The Assassination of Barack Obama" in New York today. They are, after all, responsible for looking into threats, real or perceived, against America's President. Or its presidential nominees, we guess. What other political art has fallen afoul of the law and gained visits from the men in black? Turns out they have quite the history of art harassment, from dudes who put things on their lawns to 15-year-old boys.

1.): Artist: Bobo's art gallery in Philadelphia
Art/Excuse for Raid: An installation of an office overflowing with (fake) money. Eight Secret Service men showed up, bearing files, thick with photocopies from each of the artist's myspace pages, and told them to put their hands in the air. Then they took the whole fake-money display away.

2.) Artist: Michael McDonald
Art/Excuse for Raid: cardboard cutout of Bush with a knife through it. The California artist puts his art in his front yard all the time. One day in 2007, he put out a cardboard cutout of President Bush with a knife stuck through it. Secret Service paid him a visit! Best quote? "They said, 'You've got a knife sitting in the head of the president of the United States,'" McDonald said. "I said, 'No, I got a knife in a piece of cardboard.'"

3.) Artist: Al Brandtner of Chicago
Art/Excuse for Raid: Stamp art! In 2005, Brandtner made a fake postage stamp with a gun pointing at President Bush's head (pictured); the caption read "Patriot Act." Secret Service raided the exhibit, titled "Axis of Evil, the Secret History of Sin." Man, these guys have no sense of humor.

4.) Artist: Jeremy Lassen
Art/Excuse for Raid: As the artist explains in his Livejournal:

"In response to [the above 2005 postage-stamp] incident, I created a series of collages, entitled "Bush and Guns". I "remixed" pictures of Bush (from the AP Photo wire) and guns (randomly found on Flickr)... I posted these new images to Flickr. I also urged others to create "Bush and guns" artwork, and post it online, as a sort of protest against actions and policies, that, to my mind, have a chilling effect on people's first amendment rights.

On June 7th, Two Secret Service agents showed up at my place of employment and asked to speak with me. One agent said they wanted to talk about something I posted online. I asked what, he one responded "You post a lot of stuff online, don't you?" and then showed me some color printouts of my "Bush and Guns" pictures."

5.) Artist: a 15-year-old boy in Washington State
Art/Excuse for Raid: In 2004, "the boy was questioned by the Secret Service after his art teacher turned in sketches by the boy featuring President Bush. In one, Bush's head was on a stake. In another, he was dressed as the devil, firing off rockets. The caption on one sketch read, "End the War — on errorism." [Seattle Post-Intelligencer]

6.) Artist: Michael Ramirez, Pulitzer-winning cartoonist for the Los Angeles Times
 Art/Excuse for Raid: In 2003, citing "profoundly bad judgement," Secret Service visited him after he published a cartoon in which somebody pointed a gun at President Bush's head.

7.) Artist: American "money artist" JS Boggs
Art/Excuse for Raid: He hand-draws his own money and spends it! ("I don't make money; I make works of fine art.") Has been arrested for counterfeiting (but acquitted); he also has been Secret Service'd in 1992—they raided his studio and seized some of his work.

Anyone noticing a pattern here? DO NOT FUCK WITH THE PRESIDENT OR MONEY. Not even as a joke. Not even as art! We love Big Brother.