Obama's Portrait

[DFL]

[Mr. Reactionary]

Such an awkward place for an indoor chair.

[Santander]

[Illiniwek]

Absolutely ridiculous.

[Perlen vor den Schweinen]

Note: Not his official presidential portrait. This has the liberty to be kind of "out-there". His official portrait, I am sure, will probably be in an office of some kind, given the past several portraits.

[Chancellor Tanterterg]

I wonder if Trump will belligerently insist that his Presidential portrait depict him as being in good shape and 10-20 years younger than he actually is

[MASHED POTATOES. VOTE!]

http://www.newsweek.com/sean-hannity-obama-portrait-artist-805650

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makes u think!

[thumb21]

Meh, looks good to me. A bit unconventional but I don't see the issue.

[courts]

not a bad concept but execution isn't great. the hands look off

[Frodo]

Don't particularly like either portrait of Barack or Michelle Obama, but perhaps it's just because their tastes are different from mine (I prefer more realism like most presidential portraits at the gallery).

In the meantime, all is not well with the Obama presidential library in south side Chicago....  

[💥💥 brandon bro (he/him/his)]

I wonder if Trump will belligerently insist that his Presidential portrait depict him as being in good shape and 10-20 years younger than he actually is

I'm sure Bobby Jindal can hook him up

[Free Bird]

A lot of things about Obama were cosmopolitan and forcefully modern as a result.

This is just another one of them. I hope the portrait that hangs in the White House is better. When are those usually done?

[Boobs]

not a bad concept but execution isn't great. the hands look off

It's a version of foreshortening.

[bagelman]

Apparently the painter is a nutjob who likes to paint racially charged beheadings. The painting itself is ugly and makes Obama looks like a freak with hand gigantism.

[Santander]

The painting itself is ugly and makes Obama looks like a freak with hand gigantism.

It'll piss off Trump, though.

[Del Tachi]

I like it.  It's nice to see Obama having some fun with this, and I like the racial undertones present in both his and Michelle's portraits.

https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/12/arts/design/obama-portrait.html

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

[Boobs]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

They're very obviously a variation on Judith beheading Holofernes, a very common subject in art history.

[bagelman]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

They're very obviously a variation on Judith beheading Holofernes, a very common subject in art history.

I don't see how that makes it less racially....charged.

[Boobs]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

They're very obviously a variation on Judith beheading Holofernes, a very common subject in art history.

I don't see how that makes it less racially....charged.

Well, a shallow analysis of Kehinde Wiley's variations would lead me to associate the black woman in his painting as Judith bravely defeating (or overcoming, for a more universal message) their oppressors, whites, as Holofernes. Obviously, there's a racially-charged message, and that may be controversial, but what art isn't?

[FairBol]

Oof.  Gag me with a wooden spoon, please? :: sighs ::

And as indicated in another thread....cue the "Men On Film" (from "In Living Color"). 

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HZHwxIL9oYo

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

They're very obviously a variation on Judith beheading Holofernes, a very common subject in art history.

I don't see how that makes it less racially....charged.

Well, a shallow analysis of Kehinde Wiley's variations would lead me to associate the black woman in his painting as Judith bravely defeating (or overcoming, for a more universal message) their oppressors, whites, as Holofernes. Obviously, there's a racially-charged message, and that may be controversial, but what art isn't?

That still doesn't make it less racist.  Not all white people, either past or present, oppressed or discriminated against black people.

[Boobs]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

They're very obviously a variation on Judith beheading Holofernes, a very common subject in art history.

I don't see how that makes it less racially....charged.

Well, a shallow analysis of Kehinde Wiley's variations would lead me to associate the black woman in his painting as Judith bravely defeating (or overcoming, for a more universal message) their oppressors, whites, as Holofernes. Obviously, there's a racially-charged message, and that may be controversial, but what art isn't?

That still doesn't make it less racist.  Not all white people, either past or present, oppressed or discriminated against black people.

If that's how you choose to interpret it, that's fine. I don't find his artwork racist, rather, I see it as liberating.

Using your logic, one could say that Artemisia Gentileschi's version of Judith slaying Holofernes is sexist, because not all men, past or present, discriminated against women.

[Oldiesfreak1854]

Can we also mention the fact that the painter has done other paintings depicting black women beheading white men?  If Trump commissioned a portrait by an artist who had painted images of white women beheading black men, you would never hear the end about how racist that was (and rightly so.)

They're very obviously a variation on Judith beheading Holofernes, a very common subject in art history.

I don't see how that makes it less racially....charged.

Well, a shallow analysis of Kehinde Wiley's variations would lead me to associate the black woman in his painting as Judith bravely defeating (or overcoming, for a more universal message) their oppressors, whites, as Holofernes. Obviously, there's a racially-charged message, and that may be controversial, but what art isn't?

That still doesn't make it less racist.  Not all white people, either past or present, oppressed or discriminated against black people.

If that's how you choose to interpret it, that's fine. I don't find his artwork racist, rather, I see it as liberating.

Using your logic, one could say that Artemisia Gentileschi's version of Judith slaying Holofernes is sexist, because not all men, past or present, discriminated against women.

Yes, that is correct.  It is also sexist.  How is it liberating for women to kill men, or blacks to kill whites?  Can't we all just learn to get along?

[courts]

not a bad concept but execution isn't great. the hands look off

It's a version of foreshortening.

it looks like the thumb is on the wrong side