Workers abruptly began removing a sculpture from the Kennedy Center grounds early Wednesday with no prior announcement, as the artwork was reportedly targeted for elimination after President Donald Trump’s takeover of the venue.

The statue, a human-like stick figure called “Blue,” was designed by the late sculptor Joel Shapiro and has stood on the Kennedy Center’s grounds since 2019.

Workers began removing the sculpture piece-by-piece on Wednesday, and the Kennedy Center confirmed in a statement to the New York Times a foundation dedicated to the artist will determine its next location.

Shapiro, who died last year, has previously described the statue as embodying “action and risk and performance and energy,” calling it a “celebration of possibility.”

The statue was selected for removal following Trump’s takeover of the center, the New York Times reported, citing internal Kennedy Center documents.

Josef Palermo, who was laid off in March as the Kennedy Center’s curator of visual arts, told the Times on Tuesday “Blue” had been “targeted early on,” adding the Kennedy Center is “holding these pieces in trust for the American people, and there should be a lot more transparency.”

The sculpture’s removal comes as the Trump administration tries to overhaul the Kennedy Center, whose board recently voted to inscribe Trump’s name on the marble facade and close for two years of renovations.

Shapiro Family Responds To Sculpture Removal

Ivy Shapiro, daughter of Joel Shapiro, told the New York Times her father would be “alarmed” that the sculpture is being removed. “In Joel’s mind, it was one of his greatest site-specific commissions, which celebrated joy, freedom and creativity,” she told the Times. Ivy Shapiro is president of her father’s foundation and told the Times she would like his sculpture to be displayed at another public site.

Hands Off the Arts, an activist group that has protested the Trump administration’s takeover of the Kennedy Center, slammed the sculpture’s removal in a post on Instagram . “First they came for the façade, now they come for the grounds,” the post says, referring to the Kennedy Center board’s effort to inscribe Trump’s name on the facade, which is currently covered by tarps. “Wednesday, September 2, 2026 will forever be known as the day the United States government tore down a piece of public art at the behest of a petulant crybaby,” the post says. The organization said in a follow-up post it “condemns Trump’s continued vandalism of the nation’s artistic treasures.”

The sculpture’s removal comes as the Kennedy Center is locked in a legal battle over its attempt to rename the venue after Trump. A judge blocked the Kennedy Center’s renaming attempt in May, but the institution has appealed the decision and voted last month to inscribe Trump’s name on the marble facade. Rep. Joyce Beatty, D-Ohio, the plaintiff in the Kennedy Center case, has challenged the center’s attempt to inscribe Trump’s name in court, calling it a “breathtaking act of defiance of Congress and of this Court.” In a court filing last month, the Trump administration appeared to threaten to demolish the Kennedy Center if its plans are blocked by the court. Beatty, in response, called the threat an “assault on the rule of law.” The court held a hearing last week on Beatty’s motion to block the venue from inscribing Trump’s name, which is pending a ruling by the judge.

Lawmaker Calls Trump Administration’s Threat To Demolish Kennedy Center An ‘Assault On The Rule Of Law’ (Forbes)

Judge Asked To Block Kennedy Center From Inscribing Trump’s Name (Forbes)