Image courtesy of Ran Borgersen. Three of these were placed in the District flag room in the Real World D.C. house.

In yesterday’s recap of the second episode of The Real World D.C., we pointed out that in the one room in the house that was painted to look like the District’s flag, three images of the Statue of Liberty graced the walls.

Obviously, the use of a recognizable yet non-local symbol in the most overtly local room in the House struck us as mildly ironic. After all, if the room is meant to embrace the District’s individual identity, prominently placing images of a New York City icon seems, well, a little strange.

Late yesterday, we were put in contact with the artist behind the image — and he’s a local. Ran Borgersen is a Logan Circle resident and pop artist who’s take on the Statue of Liberty was found by the show producers as it was on display in Gallery plan b on 14th Street.

In an email to us, he explained the rationale behind the choice of his images of the Statue of Liberty. “While there is some geographic irony to my work above the D.C. flag, curatorially, they were going for a mix of patriotic images in the house,” he said. “My understanding is that much of the art in the house is from local artists like myself and many of them they found through the gallery,” he added. The gallery is planning on showing the art that was in the house on February 6 and 7, with a reception to be held on the 6th from 6 to 9 p.m.

Looking through some of Borgersen’s work, there are two four images that are specific to the District — a street sign at 14th and Church streets, the Studio Theatre, also on 14th Street and two others. Neither is as symbolic or recognizable as is the Statue of Liberty, but then again, little in the District is.